Animal Instinct
by The All Real Numbers Symbol
Summary: During a trip to America, the Mew Mews come across a mysterious petshop in L.A.'s Chinatown. But they're not the only ones intrigued by this store. The aliens think Count D's pets will make fine Chimera Animas. Tokyo Mew Mew/Petshop of Horrors crossover.
1. Chapter I

**Animal Instinct**

* * *

**Summary: **While on a trip to America, the Tokyo Mew Mew girls come across a mysterious pet shop. But they aren't the only ones intrigued by the animals in this unusual store. The aliens think Count D's pets will make fine Chimera Animas. Tokyo Mew Mew/ Petshop of Horrors Crossover.

**Rating:** T (for safety)

**Genre:** Drama/Action/Adventure

**Disclaimer:** I know what you're thinking. It's something along the lines of, "How can you cross over a creepy horror manga with a fluffy shojo manga?" This is where I put on my best Count D smirk and sidestep your question by telling you, "It's an art."

**Public Service Announcement:** I am aware the in the manga PSoH, Leon can cuss up a blue streak. However, I will not be using swear words in this story. There may be implied swears, but there will be no outright swearing. For more on why, please obtain a Bible and turn to the New Testament book of Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 29.

(Besides, all that swearing just gets annoying after awhile, anyway.)

**Other:** There is a time lapse in this fic, on the TMM side. I wanted to put Berry and Ringo in the story, but the only villain I could come up with for the story was the aliens. So I guess I've ripped a la Mode apart. And Berry is not the leader of the TMM crew, so keep that in mind. I guess we can say that the aliens came back, or that Berry and Ringo were there with the original Mews from the start. Whatever works for you. On the PSOH side, this takes place around, I dunno, book 6 or 7 I guess.

* * *

In an alternate dimension, four beings form a different world stood talking.

"It is an honor to have you come back to us, Gateau du Roi." The purple haired one said.

"I've heard some news about your nemesis, Tokyo Mew Mew." Gateau replied.

"Yes," Pie nodded. "They have left Tokyo on what they call a 'vacation.'

"Where are they now?"

"We believe they are currently travelling through a part of a different country. This place is called Los Angeles, California." The purple haired one explained.

Gateau frowned. "Dissapointing. Nevertheless, I won't allow them to ruin my plans. Listen to me well, you three. I have some information I think you need to know."

* * *

"It's a lovely day, isn't, Q-chan?"

"Kyu." The small hybrid creature replied.

Count D, owner of a small pet store not far from where he and his pet currently were in Chinatown, smiled. "We have everything we'll need now. We should get back to the store before Detective Orcot shows up."

_Ching. Ching._

The count paused and looked around, looking for where the sound was coming from. The answer came in the form of a black cat bounding across the road, a bell and bow on it's tail, and another ribbon tied around it's neck.

"What's this?" D asked, his curiosity piqued. He set down the basket holding his groceries and went to have a look at the kitten. "It's … an Iromote Wildcat?" He asked as he managed to corner the cat and pick it up. "What is one of these doing in America? They're supposed to be native only to Japan."

The cat hissed and scratched to get down, but D didn't let go. Instead, he studied the animal closer, and saw an echo of a human.

While most animal appeared to have human forms to him, this one only had an echo of herself, which he found most strange. She was a red-headed girl, her hair tied in two pigtails, with grey eyes. She was a wearing a dress.

And there was no trace of animal around her. She was a normal human.

A normal human? In the form of a cat?

Before D had anytime to ponder the mystery any further, the cat jumped up towards his face, and landed it's lips on his. There was a blinding flash of light, and then he was flat on his back on the sidewalk; the cat transformed back into a girl and sitting on his chest.

For a moment, the girl seemed disoriented. Then she realized what had happened and exactly where she was sitting. She turned a shade of red the count had never seen before and vaulted off him with a speed that was impressive.

"I…uh…I'm sorry!" She hastily bowed and then turned and ran in the other direction as the count pushed himself back up.

"ICHIGO!"

The red haired girl stopped and turned to look across the street. Stepping around the corner were a girl with black hair tied in odango buns and green-haired girl with her hair done in braids.

"Where have you been, you airhead?" The black haired girl shrieked as Ichigo raced across the street to join the other two girls. "We've been looking all over Chinatown for you."

"Mint!" Ichigo said breathlessly. "Come on, let's go find the others." She grabbed the other girl's arm and darted away, the green-haired on following behind the other two.

Count D watched as the three girls vanished then stood back up. As he did his hand brushed a paper; he knelt and picked it up.

It was a business card, torn diagonally in half. On the top of the card was part of a business name: ew Mew, and underneath was part of an address in Tokyo.

"Kyu?"

He looked up and saw Q-chan was flying overhead. "No, I don't know what that was about either. Let's get back to the shop." Pocketing the slip of paper, he picked up his basket of groceries and headed away.

* * *

"Count! I know you're in here!" Detective Leon Orcot said as he stormed into the pet shop.

D smiled. "My dear detective, how nice of you to join us again. You're early today; I haven't made the tea yet."

Leon huffed and sat down in a nearby chair.

"Leon, I was wondering if you could help me." D said. "I ran into a young lady today, and when she left, she left part of a business card behind. I wonder if you could figure out what it's supposed to say?"

"Let's see it."

D handed over the scrap of card, and Leon studied it. "Mew? Mew Mew?" He lightly bent the scrap of card between his fingers then looked back at the count. "Tokyo Mew Mew is a supposed group of superheroines out of Tokyo. No one could figure out the story behind them. Personally, I think it was all costumes and CGI." He looked back at the card again. "I didn't know they had a business, though. Probably just proves I'm right and the whole thing's been a big fake all along."

"Was there anything peculiar about those girls?" D asked as he headed back into the kitchen.

"Not unless you count teenage girls in shiny costumes running around fighting monsters as peculiar. Which I do, by the way." Leon replied, raising his voice so the count could hear. "And the weapons they used were just weird."

_I've never met a human who had such a strong animal feeling about them. But that girl today… she was human and animal. She was both._ The count mused as he moved around, preparing the tea.

"Maybe the Mew crew is trying to set a business in L.A." Leon said as the count came back into the room. "I wonder if I should tell the chief."

D set the tea tray down and realized something awful. "Oh, no! I forgot the pastries while I was out today!"

"That's okay. We have just have tea without the sugar." Leon said as he leaned back in his chair.

"It is not okay. We need to go get some pastries. Or mousse. Or a cake."

"Or something that has sugar in it, before you go further into withdrawal." Leon interrupted. "Sheesh, you and your sweet tooth. It's a wonder you don't have a mouthful of cavities."

Ten minutes later found both of them prowling through the streets of Chinatown, looking for a shop that could sell them some treat to go with their tea.

"There it is. Bim's Café. I hear they make an excellent apple flan." D said.

"You really have a problem, you know that?" Leon, who was trailing ten feet behind the count, asked. The detective was looking around and not watching where he was going, so when D stopped, he bumped into the count.

"What are you doing?" He started to ask, but the question died on his lips as a group of girls, escorted by two young men, came around the corner.

The count stared at them for a moment before muttered to Leon, "The girl with the red pigtails, she was the one I bumped into earlier."

And he had noticed now that all of the girls there had some traces of animals around them. The redhead was a cat, the black haired girl was a bird, the green haired one was a porpoise, the blond one was both rabbit and cat, and the brown-haired girl had only the faintest traces of a penguin. The blonde haired young man with them was also surrounded by traces of a cat.

"D, what are you doing?" Leon finally asked.

But it was obvious that the redhead recognized the count, the detective realized. It didn't take a his job to figure that out.

Mint had been chattering away about how it was teatime for her and how they needed to find a respectable place to stop and have a cup of tea. Then Ichigo, who had been in the lead, stopped, and the other girl had bumped into the redhead. "Ichigo, what are you doing?" Mint demanded. "We need to find a good teahouse."

But Ichigo wasn't paying attention anymore. Standing not twenty feet away from here was the guy she'd been sitting on not an hour ago.

And just thinking about that memory made her face burn red.

Mint looked at the count, and then back at Ichigo. "Uh… you two know each other?"

D smiled. "We bumped into each this morning. I'm Count D, owner of a pet shop here."

The blonde haired young man stepped forward. "I'm Ryou Shirogane, owner of a Café in Tokyo. These girls are the employees at the café," He paused and motioned at another man who was with them. "This is Keiichiro Akasaka, co-manager."

"What brings you to Chinatown?" D asked.

"We're on vacation." Mint replied. "I'm Mint Aizawa. The ditz next to me who ran into you earlier is Ichigo Momomiya."

"Hey, that's not fair, Mint." Ichigo protested.

Mint waved her friends concerns away and resumed introductions. "That's Lettuce Mirdorikawa, Berry Shirayuki, Ringo Akaii, and Zakuro Fujiwara. Pudding is around somewhere."

"And all of you are travelling through Chinatown without a guide?" D asked.

"Well, not exactly." Ryou replied.

"That's what Pudding is for, na no da!" And then another blonde girl popped up, and the count noticed that this one traces of monkey in her.

Pudding studied the count for a moment, then told him, _"I'm Pudding Fong. When we need help or need to find something, I just ask someone about it,"_ she finished, in near perfect Chinese.

"_You speak Chinese?"_ The count asked, surprise evident in his voice.

Pudding nodded. _"My family is from China, but we moved to Japan when I was little. My mama made sure I still knew my parent's language, na no da."_

"_Where are your parents now?"_ The count asked.

"_My father is training in the mountains of Japan. My mom is…"_ She trailed off.

"_I'm sorry."_ D told her.

"_Now I have a job at the Café, so I can help take of my family."_ Pudding announced.

D smiled at her. _"You're very ambitious."_

"Okay, enough of the freaky Chinese." Leon interrupted. "You're both in America and you can both speak English, so get to it."

Ryou stared at him, and D glared at him.

"Who's your friend?" Keiichiro asked, trying to break the tension.

"That is Detective Leon Orcot." D replied. _And if he doesn't keep his mouth shut I might have to get rid of him._

"Well it was nice to meet you Count but we need to get going." Mint said determinedly. "We have to find a tea shop."

"Tea shop?"

"Yes. It's time for my afternoon cup of tea. It's a tradition." Mint said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

D smiled again. "Well, you're just in time. Leon and I were on our way back to the petshop to have tea just as soon as we pick up some sweets to go with it."

"I might be able to help you with the sweets." Keiichiro spoke up. "I do have a bit of talent when it comes to making deserts."

"I guess it's settled then." Ryou said. "Let's get Mint her tea. Lead the way, Count."

* * *

"So, what are we waiting for now?" Leon asked.

"Keiichiro to get done cooking." Ryou replied, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head.

"So what are you saying, that your friend has a whole bunch of recipes stored in his head?" Leon asked.

"Well, he is the chef at our café." Ryou replied.

"Does he have a specialty at your café?" D asked.

Ryou considered it for a moment. "Well, he is pretty good in the pastry department." D's face lit up.

Leon, D, Ryou, Mint, and Zakuro were sitting around D's table, waiting for Keiichiro to finish his work in the kitchen. Ichigo had beat a hasty upon their arrival at the pet shop and, for reasons none of her group could understand, was staying as far away from Count D as she could. The other girls were off exploring the pet shop, except for Lettuce, who was helping Keiichiro in the kitchen.

The aforementioned green-haired girl ducked back into the room a moment later. "Akasaka-san says it's be about five more minutes."

"Thank you, Lettuce." Ryou replied.

She darted back into the kitchen, and then the noise came of someone tripping and something made of glass breaking. Ryou winced and glanced at the Count, who was looking right back at him. "I'll pay for that." Ryou assured the other man.

"So, Ryou, tell about this Mew thing." Leon said, watching the Japanese native closely.

Zakuro spoke up. "It's a café in Tokyo. What's to tell about it?"

Leon was about to reply when Keiichiro entered the room, holding a tray laden with confections. Lettuce followed behind him with the plates.

To say that D was surprised by the extension selective of confectionery would have been something of an understatement. "Akasaka-san, this is amazing!"

Keiichiro smiled. "I hope they taste alright; it's been a few days since I was last cooking at the café. And please call me Keiichiro."

The count stood. "I'll get the tea."

After the tea had been poured and the cups passed out, everyone helped themselves to the sweets and proceeded to eat.

"So what brings all of you to Chinatown?" D asked.

"Pudding wanted to stop and see it." Zakuro replied.

"And it is vacation, so we could hardly say no." Keiichiro added as he reached for a brownie.

"How'd all of you come to be travelling in LA, anyway?" Leon asked suspiciously.

"This is a vacation from work." Ryou replied. "The girls work for me at my shop, Café Mew Mew. This was a reward for all the hard work they've done."

Leon turned to Mint. "And your parents agreed to this?"

She nodded. "My parents said a trip to America would be very educational." Then she resumed sipping her tea.

D selected one of the pastries and took a bite of it, and his face went rapturous. "Keiichiro, this is amazing!"

Keiichiro smiled. "You're too kind."

Leon took one of the pastries and bit the edge off it. "Better watch out, Akasaka. D will never let you go back to Tokyo now."

D scowled at the detective, but before anyone could reply, Pudding came running over.

"_D-san, your store is amazing! But it needs more monkeys."_

D smiled at her. _"I think I have plenty of animals already. Do you want some tea, Pudding-chan?"_

She shook her head. _"I want to go play with the animals some more. Berry is still back there with Pon-chan. Pon-chan's nice."_

D frowned. He hadn't told Pudding the names of any of the animals.

"What are they talking about?" Leon asked, irritated.

"Pudding is telling the count that she's having fun playing with the animals in the petshop." Zakuro said, then took another another sip of her tea.

"You speak Chinese?" Leon asked.

She nodded. "And a couple other languages."

Pudding scurried away, and D turned back to the present company.

Ryou glanced around and then asked, "Where did Ichigo go?"

"I believe she's wandering around the back rooms of the shop." D replied. "We had a…interesting meeting earlier, and I don't believe she's gotten over it yet."

And then he watched to see how Ryou and his group would take the news. Mint and Zakuro gave each other a long look, then glanced at Ryou and Keiichiro.

The looks the four of them were sharing quite clearly said that D knew something he wasn't supposed to know.

* * *

"This is the place?" Kish asked, hovering behind Pie as they stared at the street below.

"This is where Gateau said to attack. This is also where the Mew Mews currently are." Pie replied. "That shop right there." He used his fan to point at the one across the street where they were floating. A sign hanging outside said "Count D" on it.

There was a pause, and then Pie said, "Well, then." Then he released the Para Para.

"Find a good creature to make a Chimera Anima with."

* * *

They knew that he knew that their friend Ichigo could turn into a cat. D was glad to be drinking tea; he could hide his smile behind the cup.

Ryou and the others were keeping up the masquerade of everything being normal; that they were just having tea with some new friends. And even though he wondered how a normal human could come to transform into a cat, D decided for the moment to continue the masquerade.

"Have you seen any other sights in Los Angeles yet?" He asked Keiichiro.

The other man nodded. "We've done a lot of sightseeing since we came here. We just stopped by Chinatown because Pudding wanted to see it."

"Despite the fact that there's Neo Chinatown in Tokyo that she could visit." Mint pointed out as she set her empty teacup back down.

D was about to reply, but then he felt something like a shockwave go through him.

Some malicious had arrived, and it wanted to hurt the pets.

He stood up and spun around, trying to figure out what exactly it was, when T-chan came bounding by, closely pursued by what looked like a flying jellyfish.

Ryou jumped up and swore. "Where's Masha?"

"To late for that!" Zakuro retorted sharply as she Mint stood up and darted after T-chan, who was heading for the door.

"Let that thing out of here!" Rou ordered and Mint yanked the door open, allowing T-chan to dart out, the jellyfish still in pursuit.

"What are you doing?" The Count demanded.

"We'll explain later." Mint replied as she, Lettuce, Zakuro raced after the totetsu.

In one of the back rooms of the petshop, Ichigo was sitting in a roomful of cats when Masha popped up. "Ichigo, alien, alien!" The little robot shrieked.

"Aliens? Here?" Ichigo asked. "Masha, go get the others." She darted back out the door, heading for the front room, while Masha headed further back to find the last three Mews.

"What is going on here?" Leon asked as Ryou and Keiichiro raced for the door, followed by Ichigo, who darted out of the back of the shop.

"Like Mint said, we'll explain later." Ryou replied, even as he realized that by this point their secret was pretty much screwed and there wasn't anything they would be able to do but tell the truth when it was all over.

Ringo, Pudding and Berry came racing out of the labyrinth in the back of the shop, and the count and Leon followed them out the door.

They arrived just in time to see T-chan finish transforming into a Chimera Anima.

"This can't be happening." Lettuce gasped. "How did the aliens get over to America?"

"I don't think we should be worried about that right now," Berry said.

A massive paw came down on where the girls were standing, all of them jumped out of the way.

"It's time we transform." Zakuro called to the others.

"What about them?" Ichigo asked, indicating Leon and the Count. Transforming in front of Ryou and Keiichiro was nothing, but this time they weren't alone.

The Chimera Anima slapped another paw down on where Lettuce and Mint had been standing, both girls jumped away before it could hit them.

"I don't think we have tome to worry about it anymore." Berry repeated.

Ichigo nodded. "Mew Mew Strawberry!"

"Mew Mew Minto!"

"Mew Mew Lettuce!"

"Mew Mew Pudding!"

"Mew Mew Zakuro!"

"Mew Mew Ringo!"

"Mew Mew Berry!"

And then, all together, they shouted, "METAMORPHO-SIS!"

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S.:** And here I was hoping to put in some battle before I had to cut to the end. But this is a rather long chapter, and I feel I should break it in half. Battle scene next time, I guess. I'm sorry if the scene breaks seemed kind of quirky.

Well, I was going to try and get the whole story done before I posted this up, but I want ot start right away! So I guess, like every other thing I'm writing, it'll get done when it gets done. But in the meantime, please review! Reviews make all the hard work worth it!


	2. Chapter II

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter II**

* * *

This should not be happening. It could not be happening. Tokyo Mew Mew was a myth, an urban legend. Something the people of Tokyo had thought up to get themselves a spot on _World News Tonight_.

But it was happening, Leon realized. The members of Tokyo Mew Mew were standing in front of him, facing down the monster that had been T-chan until only a few short minutes ago.

* * *

The Chimera Anima swung it's paw out again, and again Tokyo Mew Mew scattered; jumping out of the way before the paw could crush any of them.

Mew Ringo headed off to the side, out of the monster's view. Her powers were healing, and wouldn't be needed unless someone got hurt.

Which she was hoping wouldn't happen.

"Mint Arrow!" The lorikeet-girl elegantly tossed her hands up, releasing two circles of energy that formed into her weapon.

"Lettuce Castanets!" The porpoise-girl's antennae began to extend until it could wrap around her legs and feet, and her castanets appeared in her hands.

"Ribbon…Lettuce Rush!"

"Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

The two attacks flew through the air hitting the Anima's thick hide. It swung around and roared at them, angry. Mint flew up out of the way and Lettuce ducked to the side as it swung at the two of them.

* * *

"No!" Was it worse that T-chan was a monster, or that those… those _humans_ were attacking him?

But before Count D could take another step, Keiichiro and Leon grabbed him and held him back.

"Count, you mustn't!" Keiichiro warned him.

"Yeah, D, I think you'd better leave this one up to the catgirls." Leon added.

That was right. They were more than human. They were part animal, too.

However that was possible.

He stopped struggling and watched as the Mews continued their attacks on his pet. And then he heard something that made him struggle to get free again.

T-chan was screaming.

* * *

"Hmmm… It would seem Gateau was right." Pie mused, watching the battle from high above.

"You had doubts?" Kish asked, floating nonchalantly in the air with his hands behind his head.

Pie scowled at him.

"But you know the Mews are going to stop the monster." Kish continued. "What do we do?"

"You wait here and see what happens, like Gateau said." Pie said. "I'm going back."

"Suit yourself." Kish replied.

Pie teleported away. Kish looked back down and continued to study the scene below.

"I already know how it's going to end."

* * *

_I don't want to do this! Stop making me do this! Stop it!_

And that was how the screaming ran; an endless loop of T-chan's begging whatever it was that had control of him to stop making him attack. Certain that if something didn't change soon he would be driven mad, the Count struggled to free himself from Leon and Keiichiro's grip, but they held on tighter.

"T-chan! You don't have to do this!" He called, hoping the totetsu could still hear him.

"_Count! This thing won't let me stop!"_ When even T-chan was scared, D was seriously starting to wonder if it was time to get worried.

"_Look out!"_

It was a rather redundant warning, since neither D nor Leon and Keiichiro could miss the huge paw now swinging down towards them.

A gray cat with a kink in it's tail lunged forward, aiming at the paw. It started to glow and expand as the paw collided with it, knocking the animal to the side. As it fell to the ground and rolled to a stop a few feet away, the glow faded and the three men could see that the cat was actually Ryou.

"Ryou…" Keiichiro gasped. Then he saw Mew Ringo come running over.

"Look out!" This time it was Leon who called the warning. The Chimera Anima was attacking – again.

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" A sweeping arc of purple light blocked the monster's paw, knocking it back a pace. Mew Zakuro hit the ground a moment later and jumped out of the way as the monster lunged at her.

"Pudding! Go, now!" She yelled, then darted away as the Anima came after her again.

The monkey girl backflipped into view, tambourines held high. "Ribbon…Pudding Ring Inferno!"

A huge gumdrop-shaped blob of energy had trapped the Chimera Anima a moment later.

Mew Ichigo glanced at Mew Berry. "Berry, let's go!" The rabbit girl nodded.

"Strawberry Bell Bell!"

"Red Berry Rod!"

Berry spun around, a long ribbon of energy appearing from the tip of her Rod as the Mewberry Rod attached to Ichigo's Strawberry Bell and the catgirl started to charge up her own attack.

"Ichigo, catch!" The rabbit girl shouted as she finished charging up her attack and sent it flying towards the other girl.

Ichigo caught Berry's attack in the smaller heart on the top of the Strawberry Bell and aimed her weapon at the Chimera Anima. "Ribbon…Doubleberry Check!"

The wave of healing energy spread out and engulfed the monster, and a moment later, amidst the glow, the parasite Alien that had taken control of T-chan released the Totetsu.

Mew Ichigo dropped back to the ground a moment later, and Masha flew over and ate the Parasite alien.

Leon and Keiichiro released the Count as the Totetsu came bounding over and jumped back into his owner's arms.

Keiichiro walked over to Ryou, who was sitting up now, Mew Ringo kneeling next to him, her Applesticks on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Keiichiro asked.

Ryou nodded. "Ringo healed me. But I think we'll have to do some explaining now."

Keiichiro nodded as he looked back at the Count, who was talking to goat-like animal in his arms.

"He's actually talking to it, you know."

Both of the men turned and looked at Ringo. She inclined her head towards where the count was standing. "He can talk to animals, and hear them when they reply. Maybe more than that."

"Well we owe that guy a big explanation." Ryou sighed.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Keiichiro asked.

"What else can we do? The girls didn't have any choice but to transform in front of those two, and the Count's pet just turned into a Chimera Anima. Last time something like that happened we didn't have to explain, but we will this time." Ryou said. "Come on, let's go."

"_It was awful. There was this thing stuck on my back and I couldn't get it off, and then it made me transform and go on a rampage."_ The shaken totetsu was telling the Count.

"Don't worry. That's all over now." The Count replied.

"Will you please stop talking to yourself? That thing is not replying." Leon said.

D gave him an angry glare, but before he could retort, Keiichiro, Ryou, and the Mew Mews came walking back towards them.

Leon crossed his arms over his chest. "So, Shirogane, want to explain what all of that was about?"

Ryou gave him a level stare. "As a matter of fact, I do. But let's not do it out in public."

The Count nodded. "Back to the shop, then."

"Kish!" Ichigo gasped, and everyone turned to look at her. She looked at Ryou. "I just saw Kish up there."

Keiichiro and Ryou exchanged a long glance. _We've really fallen into it now._

"What are you people talking about?" Leon asked.

"Like I said," Ryou replied. "We'll explain."

* * *

Ichigo took the cup of tea the Count handed her and turned to Ryou. "Are you sure about this?"

"No." The blonde replied. "But it's a bit late to be worrying about that now." He waited until everyone had been given a cup of tea and the Count had returned to his seat, then he began.

"Count D, Detective Orcot, you're probably wondering what all that was about."

"No shi-" The detective was interrupted as Ryou grabbed one of the leftover pasties from tea and shoved it into the other man's mouth.

"Detective, for the next ten days or so, I am guardian of six girls under the age of fifteen. Stop swearing or shut your mouth." Ryou ordered.

Grumbling inwardly, the Detective swallowed the pastry as Ryou resumed his tale. "This story starts out back when my father led an archeological group on a dig in Southeast Asia. They found evidence that once, thousands of years ago, the Earth had been inhabited, not just by humans, but also by a different race that eventually left the planet, apparently just before the advent of the Ice Age. But now something has changed, and they want to take the planet Earth back from us and use it for their own kind."

"What made them come back now?" The Count asked.

"We don't know." Ryou replied. "What we do know is that they want Earth back, and they're willing to do anything to get it. Usually they try to reek as much havoc as they can by messing up something in the environment, be it plants or animals."

"But animals are their favorite option. Their parasite aliens, known as Para Para, can take an animal and turn it into a monster known as a Chimera Anima." Keiichiro added. "That's what happened today."

"And Tokyo Mew Mew?" Leon asked.

"Settle down, we're getting there." Zakuro replied as she sipped her tea. The other girls stayed quiet and watched the scene unfold.

"It was originally my father's idea that superheroes could be created by infusing them with the DNA of endangered animals." Ryou said. "He was a respected scientist world over, and he had begun working on plans to create a team of superheroes with animal abilities." Ryou took a deep breath. "But before act on it, he and my mother were killed by a Chimera Anima."

"Shirogane-san, I'm sorry to hear that." Count D said.

Ryou nodded, looking down at the floor. "We were overseas at the time – in America. The home we had here was destroyed. That was five years ago." He looked up. "Together with Keiichiro, who had been my father's assistant, I went back to Tokyo, and spent the next five years finishing my father's project. The Mew project. It couldn't have been finished sooner. The aliens initially started with small attacks over a wide area, and then they began focusing on multiple attacks in one area; in this case, Tokyo."

"So what? You couldn't just shoot the monsters?" Leon asked, ignoring the dirty look the Count was giving him.

Keiichiro shook his head. "It's never worked before."

"If it did work, the Mew Project wouldn't exist." Ryou added.

"So you did what, went on and injected a bunch of girls with animal genes and turned them into superheroes?" Leon asked suspiciously.

"Yep."

The detective jumped up and grabbed Ryou by his shirt. "I oughta have you arrested!"

Ryou batted that detective's arm away and then crossed his own arms over chest. "You can try whatever you want. But no matter how high you make bail, I can still raise it, and my travel visa expires in fourteen days and they'll just deport me back to Japan anyway."

Irritated, the detective sat back down in his own chair.

"Every girl was infused with the DNA of a different animal." Ryou continued.

"What animals were those?" Leon asked.

"I can answer that." The Count spoke up. "Mew Ichigo is part Iromote Wildcat, Mew Mint is part Ultramarine Lorikeet, Mew Lettuce is part Finless Porpoise, Mew Pudding is part Golden Lion Tamarin, Mew Zakuro is part Grey Wolf, and Mew Berry is both Andean Mountain Cat and Amami Rabbit. Mew Ringo is just barely part penguin."

Everyone in the room was looking at him curiously. Leon turned to Ryou. "Is he right?"

Ryou nodded. "He's right. And Mew Ringo doesn't have any animal DNA, but she represents the Humboldt Penguin."

"And you, Shirogane-san, what animal do you represent?" The Count asked, looking straight at Ryou.

"The Fishing Cat." Ryou replied.

"Okay Count, how do you know this stuff?" Leon demanded.

The Count gave him an eerie look. "I know animals."

"You knew we had some type of animal powers before we came here." Ryou realized.

D nodded and glanced at Ichigo. "I…met one of your group earlier this afternoon."

Mint and Berry gave the redhead a pair suspicious looks, and Ichigo's face turned as red as her hair. The Count smiled at her. "No harm done, though. I had just never met a human who could transform like that before."

Ichigo sighed. "You're too nice, Count."

"Where does your café come into play in all of this?" Leon asked, and Ryou didn't seem surprised by the question.

"It serves as our headquarters." Ryou answered.

"It's also a café." Keiichiro added.

"We all work there." Mint joined in.

"And we make some pretty lucrative wages, too." Berry chipped in, lest Leon assume all the work that was done at the café was slave labor.

"Hmph. You've got this all figured out, don't you?" Leon asked.

"As long as I've spent working on it, I should sure hope so by now." Ryou replied, then turned to D. "Count, with your permission, I want to leave somewhere here to keep an eye on the situation."

"You think there will be more attacks." The Count replied.

"This is a petshop. Until we can figure out if this was an isolated incident or part of a larger plan, I think we'll all be better off someone is here." Keiichiro added.

"You think the aliens are going to start attacking L.A. now?" Leon asked.

"They've already started." Mint pointed out.

"Still, it seems strange that they would have followed us all the way from Tokyo." Lettuce said.

"Especially because the Mew Aqua is still back in Tokyo. Weren't the aliens after that, too?" Berry asked.

"I thought so. I could have been wrong." Ryou admitted.

D set his teacup down. "I don't mind some of you staying. I don't want anything to happen to the animals."

_What, not caring about the people who could be hurt?_ Leon thought but he didn't voice the comment.

"I'll stay." Zakuro said.

"And I'll stay with her." Ringo added.

"Then I suppose it's settled." D replied.

Ryou stood up. "We need to get back tot the hotel and start tracking down the alien's movements. If there are other attacks, it might show a pattern. Ringo, Zakuro, we'll have stuff brought over for you."

* * *

"Nothing, then?"

"There's nothing," Keiichiro confirmed, adjusting the phone as he did. "This is the first Chimera Anima attack in L.A. There've been lots of other crazy things going on in this town, but this is the first alien attack."

"Wonderful." Zakuro said as she watched Ringo running by, chasing after a raccoon.

"How is everything there?" Keiichiro asked.

Zakuro switched her cell phone to her other ear. "Everything was quiet last night. Masha slept out on the table all night and never made a sound. Ringo and I had a good night's sleep. The Detective left, and the Count is off taking care of some animal or another. His mutated goat is currently warming my feet."

"The one from yesterday?"

"Yep."

There was a pause, then Zakuro spoke again. "Keiichiro, what does this mean? That there was only one attack, and right where we were?"

Even though there was no way she could see it over the phone, Keiichiro shook his head. "I don't know, Zakuro, we can't figure it out." Ryou entered the hotel room and saw the other man on the phone. He mouthed the word 'Zakuro?' and Keiichiro nodded. "It could be that the aliens are stalking us, but it makes more sense that they would stay behind in Tokyo to wreak havoc while we were gone."

"Well, let's be glad they didn't do that." Zakuro said. Back in the pet shop, the Count came walking by, and she waited until he had passed before continuing. "Anything else?"

"Ryou's been thinking about what might happen if the aliens decided to release twenty or thirty Para Paras into the pet store. He thinks there's something suspicious about a pet store being attacked. See if you can get the Count to take you around the pet store and get a rough estimate of how many animals there are there."

"Sound like fun," Zakuro said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She pulled her feet out from under T-chan and stood up. "I've seen about twenty animals in the last half hour and the only thing I've been doing is sitting in the front room."

"That doesn't bode well." Keiichiro said. "Another thing is that there might be something there that the aliens could be after. Maybe you should tell the Count about the Mew Aqua."

"I thought Mew Aqua was only in Tokyo."

"That's what I thought. But we might be wrong. Mint and Lettuce will be over a little later to relieve you and Ringo."

Zakuro sighed. "I'll see you later, Keiichiro." Then she pulled the phone away from her ear and snapped it shut. _What a mess._

Well she would have to talk to the Count. There was no doubt about it. Zakuro sighed again, and then headed back towards the room she and Ringo had spent the night. It didn't have to be done immediately, and she wanted a few minutes to think.

T-chan watched as the purple-haired girl walked away. "Something the matter, T-chan?"

The totetsu looked over and watched as Count D re-entered the room, Femuto-kun on his heels.

"Zakuro was talking to her friend with the ponytail." T-chan reported.

"Keiichiro?" The count asked.

"I think that's what she called him. Anyway, the thing that attacked me yesterday was the first one in the city."

"Well, at least it's not widespread." D replied.

"And this Keiichiro wants to know about how many animals are in the shop, because someone named Ryou thinks it's suspicious that these aliens attacked the pet shop, and that Zakuro should tell you about the Mew Aqua, because they think the aliens might be after it." T-chan added.

D frowned at him. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Not intentionally."

Back in the hallway, they could hear Zakuro's cell phone ring again.

"She's sure been busy." T-chan said as the Count headed back towards where they could hear Zakuro talking.

"Zakuro, Ryou says that if there is any Mew Aqua there, don't disturb it. And if you don't want to tell the Count about it, that's fine. Ryou or I can tell him later." Keiichiro said.

"How urgent do you think it is?" Zakuro asked.

Keiichiro sighed. "I don't know, Zakuro. We're playing this by ear. It seems very strange that there would be any Mew Aqua in America because it should only be found in Japan."

"Don't worry. I'll tell Count D about it."

"Alright. And Ryou wants to talk to you about something. Here, I'll give him the phone."

As she listened to Ryou talk, Zakruo didn't hear the Count enter the hall behind her.

"Ryou, that's awful." Zakuro told him, a bit humor coloring her voice. "I can't believe you would suggest that."

"It has to be done." Back in the hotel room, Ryou sat down on one of the beds in the room the he and Keiichiro were using, one hand on the phone and the other on his laptop. "We've got to keep that detective from telling anyone else anything about us. Will you handle it?"

"Yep, I'll take care of it. See you later this afternoon." She closed her phone, staring at the outer screen for a moment before putting it away.

Zakuro turned and was not surprised to see Count D standing there. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No. Ryou and Keiichiro say that the Chimera Anima attack yesterday was the first in L.A. I have an errand to run, but it shouldn't take me very long. Ringo will stay here, though she won't be able to help much if something does happen." Zakuro said as they walked back towards the front room.

"And when I come back, I'd like to take a walk through the pet store, if it's alright with you." She continued.

"I will be happy to show you around." D told her.

Zakuro headed for the door. "There's something else I have to talk to you about when I come back."

"Mew Aqua?" The count asked.

She gave him a sharp look. "Your goat eavesdropped."

"Not on purpose."

Zakuro shook her head and headed out the door.

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S.:** Okay, so I was thinking this soty last night, and I realized, you know, it's been a week or so now since I put up the first chapter; I think it's time for an update. And there's the battle scene that I didn't get to squish into the last chapter. Mostly what we have here is plot development, I believe, but don't worry, we'll get back to the battles soon.

Thanks for coming back for this second chapter of AnIn, and I'd also like to thank MarzBunni and SageofAges729, who reviewed the first chapter.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and please review! I love feedback!


	3. Chapter III

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter III**

* * *

"So, Kisshu, what did you see?" Gateau de Roi asked.

"Exactly what I expected to see. The Mews defeated it." Kish replied.

"They do have a tendency to be indefatigable." Pie observed.

"They can be defeated, though." Gateau said. "After all, no one can go on forever." He turned and flew to the other end of the room.

"Gateau, what are we doing?" Tart asked. "What's our plan?"

"Our plan? I'll tell you about that later on." Gateau said as he floated back to where the other aliens were. "But here's the second step we're going to take."

* * *

"Tokyo Mew Mew. I don't believe in Tokyo Mew Mew. It's just a myth. I was just seeing things. Maybe the Count put something in my tea."

"LEON!"

"Wha-!" He swung around to see Jill standing next to his desk. "What's going on?"

"I've been calling your name for the last five minutes." She told him. "The Chief wants to talk to you. He says there's a new assignment for you. And what were you rambling about Tokyo Mew Mew for?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, nothing."

Jill didn't look convinced, but told him, "You'd better go see the chief. He's probably impatient from waiting for so long."

"Alright." Leon pushed his chair back, the wheels on it rolling easily. "I'll go talk to him."

But as he left his desk and headed for the Chief's office, he knew he couldn't deny that Tokyo Mew Mew was real anymore.

After all, he'd seen it with his own eyes.

He couldn't have been imagining it, could he?

* * *

It felt like they had been walking for an hour, but Zakuro was sure it hadn't been that long. Ringo was still off playing with the animals, and Zakuro herself was following the Count through the labyrinth that was the back of the petshop.

D stopped in front of another door. "And this is where I keep some of the more exotic birds. If you'd like-"

Zakuro interrupted. "Count, how many animals are in your shop?"

D considered the question. "I may have lost track, at any given time I have between twenty and two hundred."

"That's a conservative estimate, isn't it?" Zakuro asked. "Because you have far more than twenty animals and I gave up trying to count them after I hit eighty."

"Perhaps if you told me what your friends suspected, Zakuro-san, I can help you." D said, studying her carefully.

She took a deep breath. "Ryou hasn't figured out yet if the attack on the shop was just one isolated case, of if this is the start of something bigger. He worries that it could be the start of something bigger, and if one of the aliens decided to release a few hundred Para Paras in here, there would be more trouble than we could handle."

The Count's lips tightened as he turned and began to lead the way back to the front room. "I do not want anything to happen to my pets."

"Alternatively, there's something in the shop in the near vicinity of it that the aliens are after." Zakuro said.

"You think it's this Mew Aqua." He said matter-of –factly.

"Yes. But that's what's confusing about it. Mew Aqua is only found in and around Tokyo. There shouldn't be any here at all."

"Where is it found?" D asked.

"In water. Clean, unpolluted water." Zakuro replied as they entered the front room. Ringo was waiting for them. "Zakuro onee-sama! I've been looking everywhere for you! You should see what Pon-chan can do!"

"I heard the shouting all the way out here."

The Count grabbed her arm. "Zakuro-san, would the two of you like to search for the Mew Aqua?"

She shook her head. "If either of us gets near it, we'll awaken it, and then the aliens will really come running. If you know where it is, just keep an eye on it, alright?"

He nodded and straightened up, releasing her as he did. "I'll go make some tea."

No sooner had the Count left then there came a knock on the door. Zakuro went to answer it, and saw Leon standing there.

For a moment the two of them stared at each other, then Zakuro spoke. "Detective Orcot?"

"I'm here to see Count D. And you." He said as he pushed past her and entered the room.

"I see you're both still alive." He said as he watched Ringo playing with Pon-chan.

"We're fine, thanks for asking." Zakuro said as she sat down on the sofa and picked up her book, T-chan settling happily on her feet.

"You know that thing on your feet is a ravenous, man eating beast, right?" Leon asked as he lit his cigarette.

"As long as it doesn't chew on my boots." Zakuro replied, then added. "Would you please put out that cigarette? Ringo doesn't need to be breathing that second-hand smoke."

Leon complied, grinding out his cigarette in an ashtray.

D entered the room a moment later, a tea-tray in his hands. "My dear detective, so nice of you to join us."

"Yeah, well, I didn't really get a choice, after someone stopped by the police station to pass off some bogus story about needing protection." Leon said, giving Zakuro a pointed look.

"Detective, whatever else happens, it's important that you realize that what you've seen never goes beyond the doors of this petshop." Zakuro said, accepting the cup of tea D handed her. "Some of us have families, and all of us have people that we need to protect. There is a reason we transform, you know."

"So that was the reason you turned up and told a bogus story to my boss to get me down here?" Leon asked.

"It wasn't completely a lie." Zakuro replied as she took a bite of cake. "I do work for the Pro Imaha Modeling Agency, and they are looking for new places to do photo shoots at. Besides that I do other work, and one of those jobs is as an extra for movies. All I had to do was suggest that I felt harassed and that maybe some protection was in order. Then I suggested that my agency might be interested in doing a shoot in L.A. and that be good for the local economy and it would be nice if I could take a good report back to my agents."

"If you're a model, why are you eating cake?" Leon asked.

"I don't diet while I'm on vacation." She replied. Then her phone started to vibrate. Zakuro pulled it out and flipped it open.

The text message read, "M & L on the way, ETA 20 min."

"What is it, Onee-sama?" Ringo asked.

"Mint and Lettuce are on their way." Zakuro said as she snapped the phone shut and slid it back into her pocket.

"So tell me, Ms. Funawara, why are you helping the Count? After all, isn't you mission to protect humanity? D doesn't about humanity. Ask him. He'll tell you." Leon said.

Zakuro looked at D, who nodded. "I care very little for people; and I do prefer animals."

"What he's not telling you is that he's also given people pets that have killed them!" Leon exclaimed.

D was unapologetic. "If they did not follow the terms of contract, the shop cannot assume responsibility for the consequences."

"First," Zakuro glared at Leon. "My name is 'Fujiwara' not 'Funawara.' Second, detective, have you ever heard that saying 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?' She didn't wait for an answer. "Plants, animals, people, it doesn't matter. There is nothing on this planet that the aliens won't harm to get what they want. They can manipulate plants, turn animals in monsters, and rip human spirits out and turn those into Chimera Animas, too. It doesn't matter. There's nothing here sacred to them."

"Ryouonce said that we fight for the sake of all living things, including ourselves." Ringo added.

"He was right." Zakuro replied.

Ringo felt someone tug on her hoodie, and looked down to see Pon-chan. "Do the aliens really want to hurt us? T-chan was scared last night, and he's never scared of anything!"

"They want to hurt everything." Ringo told her. "That's why we've got to stop them!"

"Oh great. She's talking to animals now too. Did some of your bad influence rub off on her, Count?" Leon asked.

An angry vein was standing out on D's forehead. "I did not do anything to her."

"I've always been able to hear animals talk." Ringo said angrily. "Ever since Mama gave me my Blue Water pendant, I can hear them better than ever!"

_She can hear animals?_ The Count asked himself, a look of shocked disbelief on his face before he changed his expression back to a neutral one. She had answered Pon-chan's question, and no normal human should be able be able to do that.

Then again, these were no normal humans.

Zakuro set her cup down and stood up. "Ringo, let's gather our things. Mint and Lettuce will be here soon, and then we'll leave."

"So what am I doing here again?" Leon asked.

"Staying here until we sort this out." Zakuro replied.

"Well that's just great," The detective griped.

D smiled at him. "And just a day ago you didn't even believe they existed."

"Come on! You have to admit that's like something out of a weird sci-fi novel. People with animal powers? You've gotta be kidding me." Leo paused and frowned at the Count. "Then again, I guess that's what makes it so easy for you to have them around. So what's your excuse for not sicking a tiger on Akasaka?"

D raised an eyebrow. "My dear detective, you have no powers at all, not to mention no manners, and I still keep you around." _At least Keiichiro has manners._

"No manners? What's that supposed to mean?" Leon demanded, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

The count set his teacup down and went to answer it

* * *

"So, Mint, did Count D ever say what the D in his name stood for?" Lettuce asked as they walked through the streets of Chinatown, heading for the pet shop.

The lorikeet girl considered the question. "No, I don't think so. Pay close attention while we're there, and maybe we'll figure out what it stands for."

They descended down the stairs that led to the pet shop's door, and Mint knocked on the door. It was opened a moment later by Count D.

"Good afternoon, Count. We're here to relieve Zakuro and Ringo." Mint said.

"Of course. Come in." He replied, opening the door a little wider.

Zakuro and Ringo were just returning to the front, their bags in hand. "Mint, Lettuce, good luck." Zakuro told them.

"We left Masha on the table." Ringo added cheerfully, then swung around to face Leon and the Count. "Sayonara, Count D, Detective Orcot. I'll see you later." Then she bounded up the stairs.

"Mint-san, Lettuce-san, you can put your things in the room Zakuro-san and Ringo-san used last night." D told them. "Down the hall, second door on the left."

"Thank you, Count," Lettuce said as she followed Mint out of the room.

"Count D, thank you for co-operating with us on this. Detective Orcot, I'm sure we'll meet again," Zakuro said, then turned and started to mount the steps the led back up to the street.

"So that's it? You're leaving just like that?" Leon asked, and Zakuro paused.

"What more do you want me to say?" She asked, turning around to face the detective. "Do you want me to condemn the Count for protecting animals, or shall I condemn you for protecting humans?" She smiled, and Leon squirmed. The smile melted off her face a moment later.

"Humans can be selfish. So we always have to ask ourselves, what it is it one really has to protect?"

Ringo poked her head around the corner. "Onee-sama? Are you coming?"

"Yes." Zakuro said. Ringo hurried off as Zakuro turned and mounted the stairs.

"So what are you protecting?" Leon asked.

The wolf girl paused again. "This planet, and my friends. My family ceased to be alive to me a long time ago." Then she left.

"Ceased to be alive?" Leon asked. "What on Earth does that mean?"

"Her family disowned her." D replied as the two of them entered the shop. "But they've trying to rectify their mistake, and Zakuro-san will not acknowledge them."

"Sounds harsh." Leon muttered.

"Yes. Humans can be that way."

"Oh, don't start that again. In case you haven't noticed, animals aren't all that you crack them up to be."

D scowled at Leon, but before he could reply, Mint and Lettuce were back in the room.

"Count, we've been looking around your store. This place is amazing." Lettuce told him.

D smiled at her. "Would either of you like some tea?"

"Of course." Mint replied.

"Yes please." Lettuce added shyly.

* * *

"So, back to the same old place." Kish said, floating over Chinatown and looking down on a certain pet shop. "I wonder what Gateau wants with this place." Then he shrugged. "Whatever. It's not my problem."

He lifted his hand, a Para Para enclosed in it. "Well, here goes part two." He said, then threw the alien down at the pet store.

"Go, Para Para! Ahahahahaha!" Then the air around him rippled, and Kish vanished.

* * *

Mint took a sip of the tea. "Count, you simply must tell me what type of tea this is. I've never tasted anything like it!"

"Today I'm using Orange pekoe." The Count replied.

"Usually I drink black tea. It's been a tradition I've had since I was little." Mint told him.

"Nothing besides black tea?" The Count asked. "Don't you get tired of it after awhile?"

Mint shook her head. "Sometimes I have different flavors when I'm at the Café, but usually it's black tea. Besides, tea is always good, no matter what kind it is."

D gave a half-smile. "That's true." Leon just rolled his eyes.

"I got the cake," Lettuce said as she hurried back into the room, only to trip and send the cake flying. It landed upside down on the table.

"Oh, Lettuce." Mint sighed.

"Ah…uh…I'm sorry!" Lettuce exclaimed as she jumped up and bowed to the count, her face bright red.

"It's alright. The cake isn't too badly damaged," D said as he took the plate from Lettuce and managed to get the cake back onto it; the desert still mostly intact.

_The turnover rates for plates at that Café must be incredible_, Leon thought as he watched D slice the cake and pass out the slices.

For another few moments, silence prevailed, then Lettuce spoke again. "Masha's sure been quiet. I wonder if all of this was a false alarm."

"Masha?" Leon asked.

"The pink fluffy thing sitting on the table." Mint said, taking another bite of her cake.

Leon leaned over and grabbed the pink ball of fuzz, only to have it open it's eyes and glare at him. "PUT MASHA DOWN!"

Startled, the detective fell back into his chair, releasing Masha as he did. The little pink robot flew over the table and hovered there.

"Hello Masha. I'm Count D." The count introduced himself.

"D, D, D," Masha chirped, fluttering around the room.

"I'm Leon," The detective added.

"Leon." Masha repeated.

"So you find aliens, huh?" Leon asked.

"Masha can, Masha can," The robot chirped. Then it's eyes opened a little wider and it looked around. At the same time, Count D felt something like a shockwave go through him.

Just like what he had felt the last time one his animals had turned into a Chimera Anima.

He looked around, trying to find the jellyfish-like creature that was going to turn one of the animals into a monster.

"Count, what is it?" Mint asked as he stood up, but she was interrupted by Masha. "Minto, Alien! Alien!"

Lettuce and Mint both jumped up. "Alien?"

"What?" Leon asked.

His question was answered when a moment later, a Chimera Anima stormed into the room, roaring angrily.

Leon glanced at it. "Well, here we go again."

"Mew Mew Minto!"

"Mew Mew Lettuce!"

"METAMORPHO-SIS!"

Twenty seconds later, both girls were standing there in their Mew outfits. The jaguar-Anima swung a huge paw at them and ended up smashing the table when both of them jumped out of the way.

"Kyu!" Q-chan squealed in fear, but the Count ignored him. "Stop it, Lena. Don't do this!"

In what seemed like a sick repeat of the last chimera Anima, the jaguar replied, _"Count! Help me! I can't stop!"_

The Chimera Anima swung out again, trying to crush Count D, only to be distracted as Mew mint flew across it's field of view. It twisted around, trying to keep Mint in it's sight as she slowly circled around it, staying just out of it's reach.

"We've got to get you out of here before you do anymore damage," The lorikeet-girl said. "Come on! Catch the birdie!"

The Chimera Anima swung around and chased after her as Mint flew straight towards the door.

"She's … flying?" Leon asked.

Lettuce nodded. "She has wings."

Mint flew at the doors without stopping, pushing them open as she went out. She flew up the stairs, the Chimera Anima almost literally on her tail. She glanced back at it. "That's right, follow the birdie." Then she pulled ahead.

"Lettuce!" Back in the pet shop, the green haired girl was listening as Ryou's voice came through Masha. "What's going on?"

"One of the animals just turned into a Chimera Anima!" Lettuce exclaimed. "Mint's distracting it right now; I need to go help her." She ran towards the door, Masha flying after her.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked as she ran up the stairs, Leon and the Count not far behind her.

"They're on the way." Ryou replied. "They left before we did, they should be more than halfway there by now. Where's the Chimera Anima?"

"Mint lured it outside so it wouldn't destroy the store." Lettuce replied as she finally came out on the street. The Chimera Anima was still trying to catch Mint, who was trying to keep it from tearing up the street.

"Minto Arrow! Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

"I can't talk anymore, I've got tot go help," Lettuce said, then she left Masha behind and jumped into the fray.

* * *

"I do wish you'd be more straightforward with us, Gateau." Pie said as he looked down on the battle. "What is the point of these specifically released Chimera Animas?"

"Be patient," The other alien, who was floating nearby, replied. "I asure you, even though this may seem like a dreadful waste of Para Paras, there will come a time when Tokyo Mew Mew will be in over their heads."

"I certainly hope you're right." Pie replied. "Deep Blue will be angry if there are no developments soon."

"Leave Master Deep Blue to me." Gateau said. "My plan is foolproof." The air around him rippled and the other alien vanished.

"I certainly know what you're doing, Gateau," The purple-haired alien sighed, then the air around him rippled and he vanished, too.

* * *

"Ribbon…Lettuce Rush!"

"Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

The two attacks landed on the Chimera Anima and served only to infuriate it. It swung out with it's paw, knocked Mint to the ground and sending Lettuce crashing into Leon Orcot.

"I thought you could defeat these things." Leon said as the Count pulled Lettuce back to her feet and the detective pulled himself up.

"These Chimera Animas are stronger then normal." Lettuce replied. "We'll need everyone's help to defeat them."

"The only thing that doesn't make sense is why they're stronger." Mint said as she steadied herself.

"So where is the rest of your group?" The detective asked.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, D saw the rest of Tokyo Mew Mew leaping across the roofs of the building, making a bee-line for the shop. "They're here."

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S:** Iiiiiiiiittttt's TUESDAY! And this means a new update for AnIn! I don't have too much to say about this chapter this time. Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter and please review this one too!


	4. Chapter IV

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter IV**

* * *

"Ribbon…Lettuce Rush!"

"Ribbon…Pudding Ring Inferno!"

"Ribbon…Zakuro Spear!"

"Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

"Ribbon… Loveberry Check!"

"Ribbon…Strawberry Surprise!"

The Mews dropped back to see what effect their multiple attacks had achieved.

"Nothing?" Mew Ichigo asked. "But… that can't be right."

"I know." Mew Mint replied. "At least the fact that some of our attacks hit at the same time should have done something."

The Chimera Anima roared and then turned away.

"It's gonna tear up the town!" Mew Berry screeched.

The words weren't out of her mouth before Mew Mint took off flying over the monster. She stopped in front of it. "Ribbon…Minto Echo!" Her attack hit it in-between the eyes, and it roared with anger.

"Ribbon…Zakuro Spear!" Mew Zakuro's attack hit the animal in the rump, and it turned and roared angrily at the wolf girl.

Leon and the Count were still standing in front of the petshop, watching the battle.

After a while, Leon remarked, "It seems like it's taking longer and longer for them to defeat this thing. I don't think the last one took half as long."

"Well it's not our fault that monsters are getting tougher." An irritated voice told him. Both D and Loen turned to see Mew Ringo standing there.

"Mew Ringo-chan, shouldn't you be helping the others?" Count D asked.

She shook her head. "I can't attack unless someone helps me. My powers are for healing."

"Ribbon…Doubleberry-" Mews Ichigo and Berry got no further before a giant paw sent them flying.

Mew Ringo turned and ran over to see if they were okay. "Ichigo onee-chan! Berry onee-chan! Are you alright?"

"Sure." Mew Berry said as she hopped back up. "Just banged up a little, that's all."

"Same here." Mew Ichigo said as she stood back up. "I think we can defeat if we use Ribbon Doubleberry Check, but it won't let us get close enough to do that."

"Ichigo! Berry!" The three Mews, the detective, and the Count turned to see Ryou and Keiichiro come running towards them.

"About time!" Ichigo yelled back.

Mew Lettuce darted out of the way as the Chimera Anima attacked again, and Mew Zakuro attacked, trying to distract it again.

Mew Berry leapt back into the conflict as Ryou and Keiichiro came running up. "Ichigo, what's going on?"

"We tried to use Doubleberry Check, but the monster stopped us before we could." She said. "Now it wants to go tear up the town."

"You girls might have to put up a barrier to keep that from happening." Ryou said.

"Don't I know it." Mew Ichigo sighed.

"Look out!" Mew Mint shouted as the monster swung out again, this time aiming straight at the Count and Leon.

In a flash Ryou had transformed and was bounding towards them, but there was no way he could make it in time.

Leon hesitated, not sure if D would actually get out of the way or choose to take a hit from one of his pets. So it was with some relief that the decision was taken out of his hands when Mew Pudding backflipped into the way.

"Ribbon…Pudding Ring Inferno!" Instead of trapping the monster in Jello - or at least, something that looked a lot like Jello from Leon's perspective - the monkey girl held her tambourines high and pulled up a section of the street, using it as a shield.

The monster beat at it irritably for a few moments before it gave up and went after another Mew who had attacked it. Then Mew Pudding let her arms fall back to her side, and the section of concrete sank back into the ground.

"_You have some unusual talents, Mew Pudding,"_ D told her.

Pudding grinned at him. _"Growing a tail is only part of my act!"_

"Pudding!" The Chinese girl turned as Mew Ichigo came running over, Mew Ringo behind her. "We need your help."

The Chinese girl clapped her hands together. "We're gonna do Trinity Rhapsody?"

Mew Ichigo nodded. "Then you and Ringo are going to help set up a barrier while Berry and I finish the monster off. Berry's telling the others about our plan now."

Ryou, who was back in human form, came up behind the two Mews. "Until you three finish your attack, Zakuro and the others can keep the monster busy."

"You'd better get out of the way, Ryou," Ichigo warned him. He sauntered back towards the petshop as the three girls turned to face the monster.

"Everyone ready? Let's go!" Ichigo shouted, and the three Mews leapt into the air.

"Ribbon…" Ichigo began, holding her weapon high over her head.

Then, in unison, she, Ringo, and Pudding shouted, "Trinity Rhapsody!"

Simultaneously, three pillars of light filled the sky, a green one on one end of the street, and a blue one and purple one on the other end.

The attack hit the Chimera Anima and sent it stumbling back. The three Mews dropped back to the ground, and Ringo and Pudding took off running, adding a yellow and red pillar to the other towers of light.

"Let's finish this." Berry said as she began charging up her attack. "Ichigo, catch!"

Once again, the streamer of energy flew into the pink Mew's weapon. "Ribbon… Doubleberry Check!"

The Chimera Anima, which had been trying to get out of the barrier the Mews had set up, heard the attack and turned in time to catch it full in the face.

And in the middle of the healing energy, a jellyfish like alien released it's hold on a jaguar, letting the cat fall harmlessly back to the ground.

Leon Orcot just stared, slack jawed. "What kind of freaky light show was that?" He asked as the Count went forward to collect his pet.

The pillars of light vanished and the Mews dropped back to the ground and walked back over to the petshop.

"_If that's what happened to T-chan, Count, then I know why he was so scared,"_ Lena said, her voice shaking. _"What in the world is going on?"_

"I don't know," D replied, watching as the Mews regrouped. "But I'd very much like to find out."

And that was the same question everyone else had, too.

"Ryou, what's going on with these attacks around here?" Mew Berry asked.

"Yeah, Shirogane, what's the deal?" Leon demanded.

"If I knew that I'd be a lot closer to getting the aliens off this planet, or at least back to Tokyo." He replied.

"I still don't believe this." Leon said. "Unless…" He swung around and grabbed the Count by the front of his cheongsam. "You put something in my tea!"

"Detective, you're going to tear my robe." D calmly pointed out. After a moment, Leon released him.

"We're very real, I can assure you." Ryou told him.

Leon huffed, then reached over and grabbed Berry's rabbit ear and yanked on it.

"Yeow!" Mew Berry swung around with her rod and nailed him upside the face. "Those don't come off, you know." She told him, rubbing her head and glaring angrily at him.

"Well, I didn't, but I'll keep it in mind now," He responded, rubbing his cheek.

"There's nothing more we can do here until the aliens decide to show themselves." Ryou said a moment later, turning attention back to the matter at hand.

"It's strange that even though they must know we're waiting for the, they keep attacking the same place," Keiichiro observed.

Ichigo glowed pink for a moment, then the pink dress and cat features were gone; Mew Ichigo had gone back to simply Ichigo. "Maybe they were aiming for somewhere else?"

Leon snorted. "If that's true, they have some awkward aiming. Two monster attacks in the same place? That sounds more like it was planned to me."

"He's right." Ryou nodded. "This looks too well planned to be an accident. It's entirely possible that it is just that the pet shop had the closest animals, but it makes one wonder."

He paused for a moment, then continued. "Making the situation even worse is the fact that we can't stay here forever. Eventually we all have to go back to Tokyo. Either the aliens go back with us or we'll have to get a whole new set of American Mews."

Keiichiro gave a short sigh. "As if doing that wasn't hard enough the first time."

"Hey, some of us rather like our jobs." Mint protested.

"Well if you want to keep yours than we have two weeks to either get the aliens off this planet or back to Tokyo." Ryou replied. "Now, you should probably de-transform before someone sees you."

In a flash of light, each of the remaining Mews changed back to their normal human forms.

"Pudding, Berry, until something changes, you're both on guard duty." Ryou announced.

"What? Why me?" Berry asked, shooting a glare at Leon. "Why not Ichigo?"

"Because I said so. It's…" He paused and glanced at his watch. "Three-thirty now, and Ichigo and Mint will be over to relieve the two of you midmorning tomorrow."

"I can't believe this," Berry muttered.

"Now play nice you two." Mint smirked as she followed Keiichiro, who was headed back to the car.

"We'll bring you your stuff later," Lettuce said sweetly as she followed Mint.

"Yay! We get to play with the animals!" Pudding said happily.

"Does he have to stay?" Berry asked, glaring at Leon again.

"Gees, I'm sorry pulled on your ear!" The detective said irritably. "But I still don't buy all this shiny transforming superpowers stuff. And animal powers to boot. You've gotta be kidding me."

"We're not." Zakuro assured him. "I assure you, we're very real."

"And you run around cute little outfits fighting alien monsters. This is unbelievable."

"Not even your brother would say that if he were here, Detective." D told him.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad Chris is at camp. I don't need to be worrying about him getting run over by monsters." Leon replied.

"We're leaving now." Ryou said as he walked by. "See you later, Pudding, Berry."

"Bye!" Pudding waved as her friends headed back down the road. Then she zoomed back over to the Count, detective, and Berry. _"Can I play with Pon-chan now?"_ She asked in Chinese.

* * *

"Gateau, we would all appreciate it if you would explain to us your plan now." Pie said, his grip on his fan tightening.

"Patience, Pie." The aristocratic alien replied. "I have one more move to make before my plan is ready to be revealed."

From where he was sitting, on one of the pillars in the aliens' alternate dimension, Kish's gold eyes narrowed. "I'm surprised you haven't figured out what his plan is already, Pie."

"And you think you have, Kisshu?" The older alien asked.

"Will someone tell me about it?" Tart asked.

"Kisshu, don't say a word." Gateau ordered. "Not yet - I don't want it revealed yet."

"Well, when do you plan to explain it?" Kish asked.

Gateau frowned at him. "In good time. In the meantime I want to know what other Para Paras you have around here. I want an exceptionally strong one for tomorrow. Taruto, you will be the one to deliver this one to the Mew Mews."

Tart snickered. "My turn."

"It is." Gateau replied. "And this time, I have a specific animal I want you to target."

"Located in that petshop?" Kish asked.

Gateau's eyes narrowed. "Yes. Yes it is. Do you have a problem with that, Kisshu?"

Kish looked away. "None at all."

"If you will follow me, Gateau, I'll show you what we have." Pie said, then he turned and flew away, Tart and Gateau de Roi following him.

Kish watched them go. _Maybe you haven't realized the foolishness of attacking when the Mews are waiting for the next attack to happen…_

But Gateau ranked higher then he. It wasn't Kish's place to interfere.

_And I guess it doesn't matter anyway._ He thought with a smile. If the next Chimera Anima was more than the Mews could handle, than Deep Blue would be pleased.

His Koneko-chan would soon have more than she could deal with.

* * *

"So Zakuro, how many animals would you say were in that petshop? Roughly?" Ryou asked.

"Too many." Zakuro replied. "If a bunch of Chimera Animas were released into that store, it would be a disaster that we wouldn't be able to handle."

"Ryou, do you really think the aliens would do something like that?" Keiichiro asked.

The blonde sighed. "I don't know. I certainly hope not, but two attacks in the same place make me wonder."

He stretched on the bed. "If only we could figure out what the aliens were after."

"Like Zakuro already said, numerous Chimera Animas would be hard to defeat." Keiichiro said as he sat down on the edge of the other bed.

"I think there's Mew Aqua in the petshop." Zakuro said, and the words were like a bombshell.

Ryou sat up. "Did you tell Count D about the Mew Aqua?"

She nodded. "I think there's some in that shop. I didn't go looking for it though. The last thing we need is for one of us to get near it and have it awaken."

Keiichiro turned to Ryou. "Then it's entirely possible the aliens are after the Mew Aqua."

"Maybe, but why aren't any of the aliens trying to steal it?" Ryou asked. "If they want the Mew Aqua, then they would be trying to steal while the Mews were busy fighting the monster."

"Maybe they don't know where it is." Zakuro suggested. "I've been through the back of that shop, and it's a labyrinth."

"It still doesn't explain why we never see them." Ryou responded.

"It seems like we're coming up with more questions than answers." Keiichiro said.

The three of them were quiet for a moment, then there came a knock on the door.

Keiichiro went to answer it and found Mint standing there, the remaining Mews behind her in the hall. "We're going to go out for tea, and wondered if Zakuro wanted to come."

"I will," The wolf girl replied, coming up behind Keiichiro.

"Are you and Ryou coming?" Ichigo asked the older man.

"I'm not going." Ryou said as he walked towards the door.

"I'll stay here too." Keiichiro said. "We're going to try and figure out what's going on over in Chinatown."

"Okay. We'll be back later." Mint replied.

"Have fun girls." Keiichiro smiled as he closed the door.

"So what do you think?" Ryou asked as the two of them headed back to middle of the hotel room. "Should we try and find the Mew Aqua in the petshop?"

"Wouldn't that just bring the aliens faster?" The dark haired man asked. "If they did want the Mew Aqua, they might bring numerous Para Paras to serve as distractions to keep us from finding it before they did."

"True. There just seems to be no easy way of doing this."

* * *

After their tea, Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Zakuro and Ringo decided to explore the town a little and had a grand time wandering through all manner of little shops. Ichigo found a gift for Masaya. Mint found an interesting type of tea she decided to purchase to have when she got back home.

Lettuce found trinkets for her family, and Ringo bought a gift for her older brother and pet penguin. Having been in America before, Zakuro purchased little, but did help the other girls when it came to figuring out prices.

Besides gifts for friends and family, the girls also found things for themselves, and as they walked back to the hotel in the deepening twilight, they talked about their trip.

"That was fun." Ichigo said cheerfully. "I'm glad you've been here before, Zakuro, because I didn't know much about those prices."

"Don't mention it." Zakuro said as the group came to a stop at one of the crosswalks and waited for the light to turn.

"I can't wait to see give my family these gifts." Lettuce said excitedly.

"I can't wait to try this tea." Mint said. "Maybe I should have it shipped back home right away."

"Mint, that's a great idea." Ichigo said. "We can send our gifts for our friends back home right now! Then we don't have to keep track of them on vacation or take them back onto the plane with us."

"If you're going to mail those gifts you'll have to wait until tomorrow." Zakuro told her. "The post office is already closed."

"But we can go first thing in the morning, can't we?" Ringo asked. "I want to mail my gift to my brother, but I'm going to keep Yuki's gift with me until I get back home."

"If I remember correctly, the post office doesn't open until nine in the morning." Zakuro replied.

"So we can go first thing in the morning then." Ringo said happily.

"And then we can go by the pet shop to pick up Berry and Pudding and drop Mint and Ichigo off." Lettuce added.

"I like the pet shop." Ringo told the others. "There's so many cool animals there."

"The Count is quite gentleman, and he makes some of the best tea I've ever had." Mint added.

"It makes you wonder what the aliens want with it. Do they want the animals?" Lettuce asked.

"Is there anything else they could want?" Mint asked.

Ichigo trailed along behind the others, half-listening to their conversation, when out of the corner of her eye she something floating down an alleyway.

Floating?

She dropped her bag and darted down the alley after it.

"Huh? Ichigo!" Mint called as she saw the cat girl scurry away.

"Where is she going?" Ringo asked.

"I don't know, but I think we'd better find out." Zakuro said.

Lettuce picked up the bag Ichigo had dropped, and the other girls hurried down the alley after their friend.

Ichigo ran down the alley, turning to follow the alien she had spotted. "Kisshu! What are you doing?"

The green haired alien paused and turned back to face her, still floating several feet up in the air.

"Are you following me, you stalker?" Ichigo shouted.

"Now, Koneko-chan, what would make you say that?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

Ichigo scowled. "Mew Mew Strawberry, Metamorpho-sis!" A few short moments later was standing there in her Mew outfit.

"Now, now, Koneko-chan, I didn't come to fight. I just came to see what you were doing." Kish replied.

"Then you were stalking me! What are you doing here? And what are you doing to Count D's petshop?"

"Petshop?" Kish shrugged. "Huh. And here I thought it was a zoo. You humans do like keeping lots of animals together, don't you?"

"What are you up too!" Mew Ichigo demanded.

"You'll find out, soon enough. Soon you'll have more trouble than you can handle, what with the special Chimera Anima we're whipping up for you." The air around him shimmered and rippled, and Kish vanished.

"Ichigo!" The cat girl turned and saw her friends running up to her.

"What happened?" Lettuce cried.

"I saw Kish." Ichigo replied as she de-transformed. "He said that soon we'd have more trouble than we can handle and the aliens are making a special Chimera Anima for us."

"Did he say Anima or Animas?" Zakuro asked.

"Anima."

"What do we do?" Lettuce asked.

"We have to get back to the hotel right away and tell Keiichiro and Ryou what happened." Zakuro said. We might have to call Berry and Pudding and warn them, but we'll talk to Ryou first."

"Okay everyone." Ichigo said. "Let's get back to the hotel!"

* * *

In one of the rooms in the back of the petshop, Count D was taking care of a tank of Gobies.

"There. Now your water level should be just about right." D told the fish as he set the large jug of water he had been pouring into the tank down. The container was still half full.

"Thanks, Count. Thins is the best water we've ever had!" One of the fish told him.

"I'm glad you like it, Umi." D replied. He glanced down at the jug of water, which was glowing just a little. "I daresay there's something special about this water."

He knelt next to the jug and plunged his hand into it, leaving his arm wet up to the elbow. But he found what he was looking for and pulled it out: a tiny, globular bottle with a heart-shaped stopper.

"What is that, Count?" One of the fish asked.

"Something that may be very important to some friends of mine," D replied, feeling tingling warmth from the vial running up his arm. "And for now, I think I'll leave it where I've found it."

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S:** Wow. I almost went for twelve pages on this one. There was lots of talking in this chapter, because I was tired of preparing for battle scenes and having to stop halfway through and finish the battle in the next chapter. For those of you who are thinking that Leon's acting like a jerk, remember, this is still in the middle of the PSoH manga, and Leon doesn't even believe the animals in the petshop can be human yet. So Tokyo Mew Mew seems downright bizzarre to him.

Now, I must apologize, because I haven't been here in a while. College is determined to keep me very busy. (Technically I should be doing my homework right now, but my Computer class reading for this week is _so_ boring.) Thanks to SageofAges729 and Alex Warlon for your reviews. Alex, if I had more time, I would love to a oneshot or drabble of your suggestion. It would make a cool sidefic to this story, I think.

Anyway, everyone, please review and tell me what you thought!


	5. Chapter V

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter V**

**

* * *

**

Berry yawned and stretched as she entered the pet shop's front room. Given that it was only 6:30 a.m., she was rather surprised to see that Count D was already awake and brushing one of the cats.

"Good morning, Miss Berry." He said as she entered the room.

"Good morning, Count," Berry replied as she stumbled over to the couch and sat down, yawning as she did.

"Did you sleep well?" D asked.

Berry nodded. "But I don't know where Pudding was. She never came to bed last night. She's probably sleeping somewhere with the animals."

Masha fluttered by, followed by Q-chan.

"What kind of animal is Masha?" D asked.

"You know, I don't know." Berry told him. "He's been around since before I joined the team."

The two of them sat there in silence for a moment, then the Count spoke again. "So, can all of you talk to animals?"

Berry put a finger to her chin and thought it over. "Well, Ringo and I think Pudding can both talk to all kinds of animals. Ryou and Ichigo can talk to cats. Lettuce talks to fish. Mint can talk to birds but pretends she can't. I can't really talk to anything, and I don't know about Zakuro. She really keeps to herself."

The cat jumped down off of D's lap and the Chinese man turned towards the back of the store. "It's time to feed the animals. I'll see if I can find Pudding."

Berry yawned again. "Thanks Count." _I wonder how some people can be so cheerful early in the morning._

* * *

True to Berry's predictions, Pudding was still with the animals, and D found her when he went to feed some of the rainforest animals. She was up a tree with two other monkeys.

"_Count D!"_ She exclaimed when she saw him, then dropped back to the ground, landing on her feet.

He smiled at her._ "Did you spend all night in here, Pudding?"_

She nodded. _"It was fun. The animals showed me what they do in their free time. We played lots of games, and it was great."_

"_Berry has been wondering where you were."_ D told her.

"_Oh, I'd better go find her."_

"_She's in the front room. Can you find your way back?"_

"_Yep. Thanks, Count!"_ Pudding called back as she darted out the door.

D watched her leave and wondered if the Pet shop itself had taken a liking to the Chinese girl.

"You know Count, she was fun to have around." One of the monkeys said. "A bit hyper, though. But that makes her fit in all the better. How come she's a human with a tail?"

"It's a long story, Adelio. Are you and Adalira hungry?" D asked.

The female monkey dropped down to a lower branch then climbed back up near her mate. "You bet. I hope you brought us something good!"

"Of course."

* * *

"Here is the special Para Para, Taruto." Gateau said as he handed the jellyfish-like alien to Tart.

"Okay. What animal do I send it after?" Tart asked as he took the creature.

Gateau turned and floated a few feet away. "In one of the rooms in the back of that pet store, there is a dragon with three heads. That is the animal that I want you to turn into a Chimera Anima."

Tart snickered. "Sounds easy enough. Next stop Chinatown!" The air around him rippled, and he vanished.

* * *

"Morning." Leon called as he entered the pet shop and tossed his jacket over the back of a chair.

"Good morning, Mr. Detective," D said as he sipped his tea. "Are you still on guard duty?"

"What do you think?"

"Now if only you would have been as willing to help the last two times I asked you."

"Yeah, well that has nothing on this." Leon said. "Kids with animal powers, giant monsters, aliens, this is crazy!"

Berry looked up from her book. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you think it means," Leon said irritably as he dropped into a different chair. "All the stuff going on in this city, and I get the wackiest job of all."

"Now, now," D began.

"Fine, whatever." Leon said as he leaned back in his chair. "I might as well enjoy the time off."

* * *

The air rippled a small alien appeared, floating in midair, a Para Para clutched in one hand.

"Ahahaha! Stupid humans. Now you'll get yours!" Tart exclaimed, then glanced around, looking for a pet shop. There was none to be seen.

"Isn't this Chinatown?" He wondered as he floated down to the ground.

"Hey, lady!" The Chinese woman looked around, startled.

"Down here!" She looked down and saw Tart standing there. For once, the alien was glad that he, and the rest of comrades, had powers that allowed them to understand multiple languages. "Is this Chinatown?"

She shook her head. "No, this is Chengshi, China." She replied.

"Chengshi," The alien mused under his breath, then teleported away. He was back in the alien's alternate dimension a moment later, and just as he'd hoped, Pie was working at the computer. And Gateau was nowhere to be seen.

Which was just the way Tart wanted it.

"Pie, what's a Chinatown?" He asked.

The older alien didn't even bother to look up from his work. "It's a portion of a large city where a group of people from China all live."

"Then there's a place called China?"

"Yes, and it's not far from Japan." Pie replied.

"Okay." Tart clutched the Para Para tighter and announced, "To Chinatown!" Then he teleported away.

* * *

At a restaurant not far from Chinatown, Ryou, Keiichiro, and the rest of Tokyo Mew Mew were finishing up their breakfast.

"That was delicious," Ichigo said as she set her fork down and looked at the others. "It's eight o'clock. What should we do this morning?"

"We're going to the post office, remember?" Mint asked.

"Whatever we do, you two," Ryou glanced at Mint and Ichigo. "Have to be at the pet shop by ten."

Mint frowned. "Why is that every time we go on a vacation, we're invariably followed by the aliens?"

"Part of the job, I suppose." Zakuro said dryly.

"So besides visiting the post office, what else would you ladies like to do this morning?" Keiichiro asked.

"I don't know. What's some fun stuff we could do?" Lettuce asked.

"We could visit the Guinness World Records Museum." Keiichiro suggested.

"Or the Hollywood Wax Museum." Zakuro said.

"What's a wax museum?" Ringo asked.

"A lot more boring than it sounds." Ryou told her. "If you're interested in things outside the city, we could visit the Runyon Canyon Park."

"That sounds interesting." Lettuce said.

"Okay. We'll set it up for this afternoon. It's outside the city, so we'll need to arrange the visit. Mint, Ichigo, you're going to have to miss it." Ryou told them.

"Fine by me." Mint told him. "I didn't bring any good walking shoes anyway. So what are we doing this morning?"

"Shopping!" Ringo and Ichigo exclaimed at the same time.

Keiichiro smiled. Ryou rolled his eyes. "Now why does that not surprise me?"

* * *

"Ahahaha! Humans! Prepare to pay for your injustice to this planet! I…" Tart voice trailed away as he came out of teleport into his third Chinatown.

At least he thought it was a Chinatown. "What is this place?"

"This is Neo Chinatown." A voice made him look down, and he saw a Chinese man standing there.

Tart stared for a moment, then asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Wu-fei. I run this place."

"Oh. Well, is there a pet shop around here?"

"No, there are no pet shops in Neo Chinatown." Wu-fei replied.

"Darn. Wrong place again." Checking to make sure he was still holding the Para Para, Tart teleported away.

* * *

The morning had been so quiet that Leon was starting to wonder when things were going to go wrong. By now some pet in the shop should have turned into a Chimera Anima.

Berry was still reading her book, and Pudding was not far away, playing quietly with Pon-chan and T-chan. D was taking care of some of his other pets.

And nothing had gone wrong yet.

Leon leaned back in his chair, prepared to enjoy what was promised to be an easy day.

Masha and Q-chan were floating around the room. Berry looked at the clock. "Mint and Ichigo should be almost here by now. Pudding, we should get ready to go."

Then the Count felt something, a shimmer through time and space. And Masha came flying back in a panic. "Berry, alien! Alien!"

Leon dropped his paper, and the Count dropped the brush he'd been using on another one of the cats. Berry and Pudding leapt to their feet and Leon and D stood up just as the air in the room shimmered, and small alien appeared.

"Ahah!" Then Tart paused and glanced at D. "You're Count D, right?"

D hesitated for a moment, the Berry told him, "Don't answer that!"

"Ha! Stupid humans! That means he is Count D!" Tart exclaimed. "And even if it did take me five tries, I did find the right Chinatown with the right pet shop." And now," The midget alien floated back, "I have a gift for you! Go, Parasite…" His triumphant yell was cut short when he looked at his hand and realized the Para Para was missing. "I lost the Para Para."

Even though he was probably hearing things, Leon was sure that somewhere in the back of the shop, someone had abruptly pulled the needle off a record player. "You lost the monster-maker?" He asked incredulously.

"Uh…" Tart tried to save face. "No! I came to warn you that you're in for a lot of trouble now! But fist you have to find the Chimera Anima somewhere in the city!"

"No, you're here because you were supposed to turn an animal into a monster but you did a bad job." Pudding told him.

"Shut up!" Tart yelled. "It doesn't matter what I transform, you're still in a load of trouble!" The air around him shimmered and he vanished.

"Well that was completely weird." Leon said. But neither of the Mews were paying attention as they were both racing around the room, digging through their bags for their Power Pendants.

"What are you two doing?" Leon asked.

"There's a Para Para loose!" Berry said breathlessly.

"We have to find it!" Pudding added.

"Here," Berry tossed her cell phone to Leon, who caught it. "Call Shirogane and tell him what happened. He's speed dial number seven. We have to go." The two Mews ran to the door and then up the stairs that led back up to the street, calling out their transformations as they went.

"What was that?" Pon-chan asked.

"I don't know, but I think we'd better follow those Mews." Leon said as he strode towards the door.

D turned to T-chan and Pon-chan. "Keep an eye on the store." He said, then followed Leon.

"You got it Count." T-chan said.

Leon didn't stop until he was back out on the street, but the Mews were nowhere to be seen. As D came up behind him, he said, we'll have to follow them." He quickly made his way down the street towards where his car was parked.

"This hardly seems like the sort of thing we should be getting involved in, Detective," D told him.

"Hey, I took an oath to protect and defend. And if there's a monster loose in L.A., than I'm going to whatever I can to help stop it." Leon replied as he headed around to the driver's door of the car.

"I doubt that either of us can do much to stop this," D said as he went to the passenger door.

"Well I'm gonna be there anyway." Leon said as he tossed the phone to D. "Here. Since I'm driving, you can call Shirogane." He finished as he slid into the driver's seat. The Count got into the passenger's seat.

"Hey, look who's not sitting in the back for once." Leon said as he started the car, and, after ascertaining that no one was coming, pulled out into the road.

D didn't answer; he was looking the cell phone over. "Now how does this work?" He wondered.

"She said to press seven, so press and hold that button until it says it's calling," Leon said, his eyes never leaving the road.

D did as he was instructed, and sure enough, after holding the button for a few moments, the words "_Calling Shirogane_" appeared on the screen.

Not sure if the small device actually worked like a normal phone, D hesitantly put it to his ear. A moment later, the other end of the call was picked up.

"Shirogane Ryou."

"Shirogane-san, this is Count D. Something has come up at the store…"

"Another Chimera Anima?" Ryou asked.

He and the others were at one of the Los Angeles malls, and just getting ready to head back to the car when the phone call had come. At the word Chimera Anima, all of the others stopped in the parking lot and turned to look at Ryou.

"Not exactly." D replied. "A few minutes ago a small floating creature appeared in my pet shop, and I think it was one of your aliens.

"Super short, brown hair, gold eyes, clothes that don't make any sense?" Ryou asked.

"Yes."

"Yep. That's one of the aliens." The blonde confirmed.

"He threatened that a parasite alien had been released somewhere in the city."

"Crap," Covering the speaker in his phone, Ryou turned to the others. "There's a Para Para loose in the city somewhere."

"Onii-sama, this city is enormous." Ringo said.

"I know, but we've got to find it." Ryou replied.

"Take our bags," Zakuro said as she handed her shopping bag to Keiichiro; the other girls followed suite. "We'll leave right now."

"Mew Mew Zakuro -"

"Mew Mew Strawberry -"

"Mew Mew Minto -"

"Mew Mew Lettuce -"

"Mew Mew Ringo-"

"METAMORPHO-SIS!"

Even with the speaker on Ryou's end muffled, the count could still hear the Mews shouting their transformation phrases. Another moment passed and there was the stifled sound of car doors opening and closing, then Ryou came back on the line.

"Where are Berry and Pudding?" He asked.

"They left as soon as the alien was gone. They went to look for the parasite alien."

Keiichiro said something that was too quiet for the Count to hear, then Ryou asked, "Where are you and the Detective?"

Leon answered that question. "We're about to cross eighty-fifth road."

Ryou sighed. "Count, please tell the detective I knew that. I meant, are you at the pet shop or not, but I can see you aren't."

"How can you see… there's a GPS tracker in the phone, isn't there?" Leon asked.

"If we're going to have a three-way conversation, you might as well set the phone to speaker." Ryou said. "Yes, there is a GPS in the phone. I was trying to figure out if Berry still had her phone with her or not, but I can see she doesn't." Ryou was sitting shotgun in the car that he and Keiichiro had rented for their stay in America. The older man was driving, and Ryou was balancing a laptop on his lap.

On the screen of the computer was a map, with different color dots showing which Mew was where in the nearby areas of the city. There was an extra dot, a brown one, which showed the location of the GPS tracker in Berry's phone.

Back in Leon Orcot's car, D studied the phone. "A speaker?"

"Here." Leon took the phone and quickly glanced at it, then pushed another button and set it down on the counsel. "Now it's set to speaker. Hey Shirogane, did you find that Chimera Anima yet?"

"No. Hang on; we've got an incoming communication from Masha."

Back in the car with Keiichiro, Ryou pushed a button his laptop keyboard that allowed the communication channel with Masha to open.

"Ryou! This is Berry. Where are you?" The rabbit-girl's voice came through the computer.

"We are travelling through L.A., trying to locate the Para Para. Any luck?" Ryou asked.

"None, where's everyone else?"

"They split up and went to find the thing, but I doubt we're going to find it before it becomes a full-fledged Chimera Anima." Ryou said grimly. "Masha."

The robot squeaked in reply.

"I want you to get above the skyline and see what you can see. Ditto for you if you're listening to this conversation, Mint. You'll have a better time seeing it if you're above the skyline."

He pushed the button that disconnected Masha's speaker.

"You think Mew mint can hear you?" Leon's voice came over Ryou's own phone, set on speaker and propped up on the dashboard.

"I'm fairly certain of it. By the way, she's going to cross paths with you within the next few moments."

Leon snorted under his breath, but the light in front of him turned red and he was forced to come to a stop. And no sooner had he stooped than Mew Mint went flying by, forty feet up in the air, scanning the ground below for any signs of the Chimera Anima. She continued flying, header higher as she went, until she had vanished behind a skyscraper.

"She's still flying." Leon muttered.

"She has wings," Ryou replied.

* * *

Back in the other car, Ryou sighed and leaned back in his chair. _What on earth are the aliens trying to do?_ He mused as he rubbed his eyes.

"Ryou, are you alright?" At the concern in Keiichiro's voice, he sat up a little straighter.

"I'm fine." He replied as he grabbed his phone, which was sitting on the dashboard. With his Bluetooth headset, there was no need for him to keep the phone nearby.

The timer told him he'd been on the phone for the last ten minutes. _Well, it looks like I'll be taking care of the Shirayuki cell phone bill. At this rate, Berry's going run out of minutes._

And then there came another communication through the computer. "Ryou! I found the Chimera Anima!" Mint yelled, the transmitter in Masha carrying her voice to him. "I can see it out by the beach."

Back in the detective's car, Leon grabbed the phone. "Where on the beach?"

Ryou hastily typed something into his computer. "Come out on 58th and Terstun road. You won't be able to miss it." He said grimly.

"That's wonderful," Leon said sarcastically. "Do you realize what damage that thing can cause?"

"Well, we didn't release the Chimera Anima there," Ryou retorted, then announced over the Mew's communicator, "Tokyo Mew Mew, head for the beach."

"We'll see you there, Shirogane." Leon said, then he hung up the phone. Then he told the Count. "I think I have enough probable cause to turn on my lights. Hold on, we're about do far over the speed limit." He reached down and flipped two switches, one turning on the light and the other his siren, then he swung a sharp right turn and took off down another side road.

"To the beach, then."

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S.:** Well, initially I was going to use a reservoir for this, since I checked Google maps and noticed that the beach seemed pretty far away from L.A., but I decided to just go with my original plan. After all, in PSoH they seem to have no trouble getting to beach in a hurry. I eyeballed the map and the beach is about 15 miles away from L.A. (It's probably more, that was an estimate.) But yeah. The chapter title won't stay in the middle of the page, doggone it all.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review so I have something to look forward to when I get back from college later today!


	6. Chapter VI

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter VI**

* * *

While the siren had a tendency to be annoying, D had to admit that it did have it's benefits; every other car on the road got out of the way for Leon.

And his contacts at the police station were helpful; Leon had simply told them he had information on a disturbance near the reservoir and that he was on his way to handle it and would call if he needed backup. So at least the police interference was out of the way, for the moment.

D settled back in his chair and wondered what poor creature had been turned into a monster this time.

The phone sitting on the counsel between them rang; Leon answered it.

"Detective Orcot, I hope you don't mind that we're following in your wake." It was Ryou.

Leon checked the mirror and sure enough, there was another car nearly tailgating him. "Is that you and Akasaka back there?"

"Yep."

"Feel free to follow; I'll escort you. Where's Tokyo Mew Mew?"

"Oh, don't worry; they'll get there long before we do." Ryou told him, then hung up.

As if to prove his point, the next moment, both D and Leon noticed Mews Lettuce and Zakuro running up towards the road – fifty feet up on the roof of a building. Without missing a beat, Mew Zakuro leapt off the building and over the road, landing on the building on the other side of the road, Mew Lettuce directly behind her.

"They're going to get there faster?" Leon asked, unbelieving.

"They'll take a more direct route." D replied. "Eyes on the road, please."

* * *

"I think that was Detective Orcot back there." Mew Lettuce said as she followed Mew Zakuro from one rooftop to another.

"Don't worry about them." The purple Mew replied. "We have to stop that Chimera Anima.

Across other rooftops they could see Ichigo and Ringo bouncing from building to building, and Mint flying straight over all of them.

"There!" Mew Zakuro exclaimed, and sure enough, a few buildings over, the green Mew could see where the buildings ended and the beach began.

And there, on the beach, was a monstrous Chimera Anima.

* * *

He'd been forgoing his swearing for the last few days on behalf of Tokyo Mew Mew, but when Leon pulled the car around the final corner and came to an abrupt stop in the middle of road that led to the beach, he really felt the need to swear.

The monster towering over the beach might have once been an octopus, but now its features were oddly cartoon like and a lot meaner. Next to him, he heard the Count gasp.

Leon flipped the siren off but kept the lights on as he moved the car forward. In the rearview mirror, he watched as Keiichiro pulled the other car into a parking space.

Mew Berry jumped out of the way as a tentacle tried to crush her, Mew Pudding cart-wheeling after her. Mew Mint flew down over the roof of building and headed straight for the fray, Masha flying after her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Leon spotted a flash of hot pink, and slammed on the brakes as Mew Ichigo came bounding into his vision. For a moment Leon was sure he would hit her, but she back flipped over the hood of hood of the car, landing on her feet on the other side of the car.

Irritated, the detective rolled down his window. "What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?" He asked, fear and anger coloring his voice.

"No, I'm trying to kill that thing before it kills a bunch of people!" Mew Ichigo replied, pointing a finger at the Chimera Anima, which roared and thrashed in the water.

"Ichigo onee-chan!" Mew Ringo came running over. "The others are already attacking the monster, Onee-chan! We have to go help them!"

Figuring that if left where it was, the car would deter gawkers and morons, Leon threw it into park and then he and the Count exited the vehicle.

Ryou and Keiichiro came running over a moment later. "Ichigo!" Ryou said, but she shook her head.

"Ringo and I just got here." She replied. "You'd have to ask Berry or Zakuro about the monster."

"Then let's go," Ryou said, and the group ran towards the battle.

As it turned out, they didn't have to get directly into the fray to find out what was going on. Mew Lettuce was standing on the beach about twenty feet from the battle, castanets in both hands, waiting for another opportunity to hit the monster.

"Mew Lettuce!" The porpoise-girl turned as the group came running up.

"What's going on?" Ryou asked.

"Nothing we do against it works." She replied. "This might be the hardest one yet."

The monster roared, irritated, as the other Mews' attacks hit it. It swung out a tentacle and sent the four Mews flying.

Mew Berry and Mew Mint were flipped head over heels until the came to an abrupt stop a few feet from Lettuce and the others; Mew Zakuro rolled to a stop not much farther away. Mew Pudding tried to break her fall by cartwheeling and landed sitting down on the beach.

"How are we going to stop this thing?" Mew Ringo asked.

"I don't know, but we'd better come up with something soon," Mew Zakuro replied as she and the others pulled themselves to their feet.

The air above the monster rippled, and then an purple-haired alien holding a red and purple fan appeared.

"Pie!" Zakuro exclaimed as the Mews readied their weapons.

"What are you doing here?" Mew Lettuce asked.

"Just making sure that the Chimera Anima is doing a decent job, despite my compatriot screwing this attack up," He replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you want with the pet shop?" Ryou asked.

Pie eyed him coldly. "Oh, it's not what I want."

"Then who wants it?" Leon asked.

"I think you'll find out soon enough." Pie retorted. Then he pointed his fan at the group. "Go, Chimera Anima!

Before anyone could respond, the Anima swung four of it's tentacles out and grabbed the group, then dragged them into the water.

Underwater, the group struggled to get free from the tentacles before their air ran out. It was Mew Zakuro who finally freed them; gripping her Zakuross Whip tightly, she swung out and whacked the monster across the eye. It let out a sound that might have been a shriek, but it released the group and they wasted no time swimming back to the surface.

It was less than three minutes later that most of them were pulling themselves out of the water.

"Well, I didn't plan on that unexpected swim." Leon said as he collapsed on the beach, small waves still rolling around him.

"No one did," Keiichiro replied.

Ryou looked around, making sure everyone was there. Mew Ringo was helping Mew Mint, who was coughing up water. Mew Zakuro was standing next to them, Mew Lettuce was behind Ryou himself. On his other side, Mew Ichigo and Mew Pudding were crawling back up to the shore, Mew Berry not far behind them.

He and Leon realized who was missing at exactly the same time and turned to face each other.

"Where's D?" Leon asked.

Ryou shook his head. "I haven't seen him. Can he swim?"

"I don't think so."

Ryou swung around to face Mew Lettuce. "Find Count D – right now!"

The green Mew nodded and turned to run back into the water, only to have the Chimera Anima resurface and block her path.

"Ribbon…Strawberry Surprise!"

"Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

The two attacks hit, and the monster shrieked again. Mew Lettuce looked up at Mint, who was floating just above her head. "Go find the Count!" The blue Mew yelled. "We'll keep the Chimera Anima busy!"

Lettuce nodded and darted past a marauding tentacle, making a shallow dive into the ocean.

* * *

Sometimes, Count D really did wish he knew how to swim. Whether he had been pulled further down than the others or the monster had held onto him longer, he didn't know, but the surface was a long way up, and he would probably not be able to get back to it on his own.

Now his body would nourish the ocean life, and though the thought of death didn't bother him, he was little a concerned about who would take care of the pets after he was gone. Somehow, he didn't think Leon could be trusted to do it.

"…_ount D! … Count D!"_

Startled, he opened his eyes and looked up. The surface was still a long way up, but someone else was floating down.

It was Mew Lettuce, her body glowing blue, her antennae – as long as they were when she summoned her weapons - streaming out behind her.

And her legs were gone, replaced with a blue fish tail.

Then again, D remembered, she was a Finless Porpoise.

He reached up to her, and she grabbed his hand, righted herself, and started swimming towards the surface as fast as she could go.

* * *

"Ribbon…Pudding Ring Inferno!"

"Ribbon…Loveberry Check!"

Mew Pudding's attack trapped the monster, allowing Mew Berry's attack to hit it dead on.

But the Inferno didn't hold it for long, and Berry's attack only infuriated it further, allowing it struggle free on it's entrapment.

"This is insane." Mew Mint said. "How are we supposed to stop this thing?"

"I don't know." Mew Ichigo sighed. "Mew Zakuro! Mew Ringo! Let's go!"

The three Mews leaped up into the air and sent their attack at the monster.

"Ribbon…" Ichigo began, and then the others shouted with her in unison, "Trinity Requiem!"

* * *

It was a relief to get back to the surface and take a deep breath of air.

"Count, are you alright?" Mew Lettuce asked.

After a moment, he nodded, then asked, "How did you know to come back?"

"We got back to shore, and Shirogane and Detective Orcot realized you weren't there." The porpoise-girl replied.

"The question is, will you make it back to shore now?" A third voice added.

Lettuce and D looked up and saw Kish floating above them.

"Kisshu! What are you doing?" Mew Lettuce demanded.

He leaned back, still in midair. "Oh, I just thought I would watch the happenings. See how you people fared against our new and improved Chimer Anima." Kish grinned down at them. "I think you'd better hurry back to land, eh?" He told Lettuce. "Your friends might need your help." The air around him shimmered, and he vanished.

Mew Lettuce turned and saw that land was behind her, albeit far away. She could even see the enormous monster thrashing around near it.

She turned back to the Count. "Is it alright with you if I go underwater?" She would be able to make better speed that way.

D nodded and took her hand. Then Mew Lettuce dove back underwater, pulling the Count along behind her as she headed in the direction for shore, just as fast as she could move her tail.

* * *

"Ribbon…Apple Pop!" Mew Ringo called her attack, then waited anxiously until Mew Zakuro finally opened her eyes. "Zakuro onee-sama! You're alright!"

"Yeah," The purple Mew replied as she sat up.

Several feet away, Mew Berry and Mew Mint were attacking the monster, with predictable results.

Further back on the beach, near where the sand returned to grass, Keiichiro, Ryou, and Leon Orcot were watching the battle.

"I don't think this is going to end well," Keiichiro said as he watched the battle.

Ryou's eyes narrowed. "These Animas… they're getting harder and harder to defeat. What is in that pet shop that the aliens want so much?"

Leon shook his head. "The only thing I've ever seen there were animals," He said, frowning as he realized that the battle was starting to draw onlookers. "You people handle the monster. I better take crowd control before someone gets hurt." He finished as he walked off towards the bystanders.

Ryou sighed. "Great. Gawkers. Just what we need."

Keiichiro smiled. "It'll get better, Ryou. We'll win in the end."

The blonde shook his head and turned to look back at the battle.

Mew Ichigo came running up. "I think if we do Ribbon Imperial Prayer we can defeat the monster." She gasped out. "But we need Lettuce to come back for that."

Ryou considered it. The Imperial Prayer should work…. "Okay. Hold the monster off for as long as you can, and take care of it for good when Lettuce gets back."

Mew Ichigo nodded and ran back into the fray, and Ryou turned to Keiichiro.

"Now we get to start praying that Lettuce hurries back."

* * *

Mew Lettuce had been sure that they would have gotten back to land by now. The water should have started getting shallower.

But it wasn't, and she didn't know why.

"What's the matter, Mew Lettuce?" Count D asked after they had surfaced again.

"We should be getting closer to land, but we aren't." She replied.

"Try again," He suggested, so she grabbed his hand and they both went back underwater.

But when she came back up to the surface a few minutes later, they were still no closer to land. Worse, there was no sign of the shore anywhere.

"We're lost." She whispered, feeling hope dwindle inside her. On the one hand, at least she wasn't lost alone, but on the other hand, D would probably not be able to last as long in the water as she could. She could go for months, but he would probably die if they forced to keep endlessly searching for land.

As if he could sense her thoughts, Count D placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up, Mew Lettuce. This isn't your fault."

She took a deep breath and nodded, building up her resolve. She wasn't Lettuce Midorikawa right now, she was Mew Lettuce.

And there was a difference.

As if to prove that the Count was right, three dolphins came splashing up to the surface a moment later, squeaking and chirping.

"_We saw you needed some help."_ The first one said.

"We're lost." Mew Lettuce told them. "We were trying to get back to shore but something went wrong."

The second dolphin appeared to nod. _"We know. The weird floating people put something in the water. It kept changing the current so you thought you were swimming to land but you weren't."_

"Can you help us get back to land?" The Count asked.

The dolphin nodded again. _"Yes. Follow us."_ The three dolphins turned and dove back under the water. The green Mew took D's hand again and followed them.

* * *

"Ah, hurry Lettuce! I don't want to use up all my powers!" Mint yelled irritably before launching another attack. "Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

Mew Zakuro darted across the beach, her boots sinking into the sand before she jumped as high as she could and launched her attack. "Ribbon…Zakuro Spear!"

The monster shrieked angrily and lashed out at them, causing all the Mews to go darting out of the way.

They regrouped on the beach as the monster drew back a little. Mew Berry turned to Mew Ichigo. "Ichigo, do you want to do the Imperial Prayer without Lettuce?"

Mew Ichigo shook her head. "We'll need everyone's power to defeat this. Just keep it busy as long as you can."

"Okay!" Mew Pudding cheerfully assented before turned to face the monster. "Ribbon…Pudding Ring Inferno!"

And the battle was back on.

* * *

The dolphins kept up a fast pace as they moved through the water, and Mew Lettuce was never more then a few feet behind them. Finally one of them turned and swam back around to talk to them.

"_We're going to surface now so your friend can breathe."_ It told them, and D nodded gratefully.

Just like that the dolphins switched directions and headed back up to the surface.

"_We have to make this quick or we'll lose our way again."_ One of the dolphins told them. _"By the way, I'm Kye, that's Troy, and Cascada."_

"I'm Count D, and this Mew Lettuce." The Count replied.

"_Ready to dive?"_ Cascada asked. _"We have to get going."_

"_That's right. Let's go!"_ Kye said, and the group dove back under the waves.

The pace this time was quicker, but Lettuce still managed to keep up the dolphins.

And after a few more moments, she started to notice that the water was getting shallower.

"_We think you can make it from here,"_ Kye said.

"Thanks so much for your help!" Mew lettuce told him as they kept swimming.

He seemed to brush her words off. _"Don't mention it. And if you want to do something for us, stop that monster."_

"We'll do our best." Mew Lettuce assured him. Then the dolphins turned and swam back the way they had come, while the green Mew swam up towards the surface.

They broke surface shortly after that, and Lettuce was overjoyed to see that further up on the beach were the rest of the Mews.

And the monster.

"Yo D! Where have you been?" Leon called as he noticed the two of them in the shallows. Most of the crowd had decided to keep a safe distance, and other than two fools who'd thought close-up pictures would be just the thing for the Internet, there had been no trouble, so he had alternated between keeping an eye on the crowd and keeping an on the battle.

"Mew Lettuce and I have been trying to find our way back here." D replied as he stood up, water dripping from his cheongsam. "We needed some help, but we got back." He turned to see if Lettuce needed help, but her tail had already vanished, replaced by her green-booted feet. She jumped up and raced up the beach.

"Everyone! I'm back!"

Most of the other mews turned at her shout, but Mew Zakuro and Mew Berry will still fighting.

Mew Ichigo looked around excitedly. "Then everyone's here! We can do the Imperial Prayer!"

Mews Berry and Zakuro dropped back to the ground.

"Alright! Let's do this! First we'll start by giving ourselves some room! Ribbon… Strawberry Surprise!" Mew Ichigo finished, launching her attack at the monster.

"Ribbon…Lettuce Rush!" Mew Lettuce joined in, and together they knocked the monster back.

"Everyone, now!" Mew Ichigo yelled. "Ribbon…"

"Imperial Prayer!" All the Mews finished with her.

Beams of pink light spurted out of the smaller heart on Mew Ichigo's weapon, growing in strength and form until they glow they emitted swallowed everything.

And in the midst of the light, they saw a Para Para release an octopus, dropping it harmlessly back into the water.

All seven Mews landed back on the ground a moment later. Behind them, they hear the crowd clapping and cheering.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting lightshow," Leon said. Standing next to him, D said nothing.

"See Ryou, I told you there was nothing to worry about." Keiichiro said cheerfully.

"Oh, no, our worries are just beginning." Ryou countered, then headed across the beach to talk to Leon and D.

"Count D, I think we need to discuss our next course of action." Ryou said. "Three attacks at the same, or intended for the same place, tell me that there's something up with the aliens and your store. I'd like to figure out what it is."

D nodded, and Ryou turned to Leon. "Detective, you will be there too, I hope?"

Leon nodded. Ryou turned away. "Good. I'll see both of you back at the pet store."

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S.:** I apologize to everyone. I didn't mean to take so long for another update, but I've been busy with school for most of the fall. I'm on break now, though, so I remembered this story and decided to update. For those who are wondering, Imperial Prayer is an actual attack, named in the video game. When I think of it, I think of the scene in the TMM anime opening, when all the Mews go flying by then sync up their powers with Ichigo, who attacks with the pink energy beam. Just an FYI.

And I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to this story. AnIn has even been put in a C2! These are the things that make all the time invested in this story worth it, people. They really are.

Alright, I think that's all for this chapter. Please read and review!


	7. Chapter VII

**Animal Instinct**

**Chapter VII**

* * *

When they were all back at the pet shop, all sitting around the table, or in some cases, near the table, Ryou spoke again.

"Alright. Tell us exactly what happened when Tart appeared."

"The weird floating guy?" Leon asked. "His name is Tart?"

"Yes." Zakuro replied. "What happened when he showed up?"

Berry, who had been sitting on the floor and using the side Zakuro's chair for a backrest, frowned and looked at Pudding, who shrugged, then rabbit-girl turned to face Ryou. "He was looking for Count D's pet shop. That is specifically what he said."

Ryou and Keiichiro looked at each other. The other Mews looked around uneasily.

All but Zakuro. "So, whatever they want is in this store." She said straightforwardly as she sipped her tea.

"Is there any Mew Aqua here?" Ichigo asked.

"There is." The Count replied.

"Then maybe that's what the aliens are after." Leon suggested.

Ryou shook his head. "It could be, but it doesn't make sense. Why did they never show up to search for it?"

"They could have," Keiichiro spoke up. "None of ever stayed inside the store when the aliens attacked. They could have been searching while their Chimera Animas were rampaging."

There was a pause as the group considered this, then D spoke.

"The Mew Aqua is still here. I checked on it this morning."

"We've also been out since then," Leon pointed out.

Ryou turned to Masha, who had been fluttering next to the blonde. "Go check and see if the Mew Aqua is still back there."

"Masha will, Masha will," Masha chirped as he flew off.

"So, what do we know for sure?" Mint asked.

"We know for sure there's something in this shop those floating freaks are after," Leon replied.

"Count, what do you sell in this store?" Keiishiro asked. "Anything besides animals?"

"I sell love, hope, and dreams." D replied.

"Well at least we know the floating freaks are only after the animals." Leon said.

"So who do we know who would keep attacking even after we're waiting for them to show up?" Ichigo wondered. "Surely Kish and the others would have given when they realized we were waiting for them."

"Never stops 'em from trying to destroy Tokyo." Zakuro pointed out.

"That's a city. This is one particular place." Ichigo replied.

One place in particular. The entire Mew Mew group mulled that over for a moment, then everyone looked up at the same time and said, "Gateau de Roi."

"Wait, what?" Leon asked.

"Gateau De Roi," Zakuro repeated.

"He's one of the aliens, and he's attacked a localized area before. Last time he showed up, he attacked the nature reserve that Ringo lives on." Ichigo said. Ringo nodded.

"He also seems to have a higher rank than the rest of the aliens." Ryou added.

"de Roi is also good at being stupid. He has this thing that if he attacks enough, he'll finally drive us away." Mint said. "It never seems to dawn on him that we eventually figure out he's up to something, and it also never seems to dawn on him that when we're literally sitting around waiting for him, he should probably go attack something or somewhere else."

"True, but we shouldn't underestimate him," Ryou warned.

"It fits de Roi's M.O." Zakuro said, glancing at Ryou and Keiichiro. "What do we do now? Should some of stay here or not?"

"It doesn't seem to matter if we stay or not," Mint pointed out. "We haven't been able to stop these last Chimera Anima alone, it only works if we're all together."

Ryou nodded and turned to the Count. "I guess it's up to you then, Count D. Would you like some of to keep staying here?"

"It makes no difference to me," D replied. "As you say, you all have to be at the site of the attack to stop the Chimera Animas."

Leon tossed his phone to Ryou. "I'll stay. Besides, it's what my boss assumes I'm doing for the next few days anyway. Put you number in my phone, so I can call the next time one of the monsters shows up."

Ryou entered his number into the phone, then tossed it back to Leon.

"And here," Leon pulled out Berry's phone, with its tiny strawberry rabbit charm, and tossed it over to the girl.

"Thank you," Berry said as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"If you need us again, don't hesitate to call us," Ryou said as he and Keiichiro stood up. "And if you can't reach us by phone, we're staying at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel."

* * *

"Taruto, your failure is inexcusable." To say that Gateau was not happy was something of an understatement. "You were supposed to transform the three-headed dragon into a Chimera Anima, but in your carelessness transformed a stupid octopus."

"Well it's not my fault. You could have been more specific other than just Chinatown." Tart told him. "Do you know how many Chinatowns there are? You're lucky I found the Chinese Count's shop at all!"

"Tart that is no way to speak to Gateau de Roi," Pie pointed out sharply. "You must show him the same respect you would show Kish or I."

"That means Tart will show no respect at all," Kish pointed out.

"KISH!" Tart and Pie exclaimed.

"Enough of your foolishness," Gateau ordered. "I don't have time for it. It's time for the final phase of my plan."

"Are you finally going to tell us what your plan is?" Tart asked.

"Yes. Because I'll need all of you to help me carry this off." Gateau said with a smile.

Tart still had questions. "What's in that pet shop that's so important, anyway?"

Gateau turned and floated a few feet away, relishing the fact that his plan was about to come to fruition. Master Deep Blue would be most pleased with him this time…

He turned and floated back. "There is a Mew Aqua in that shop. And we will take it. But there's something far more valuable there: animals."

"Animals?" Tart repeated.

"Animals," Gateau said with a nod. "I wonder what would happen to those Mew Mew girls if suddenly every animal in that store became a Chimera Anima?"

"We've tried multiple Chimera Animas before." Pie told him.

"True, but there are many fantastic creatures in that store. And if they all become Chimera Animas, the Mews will be in over their heads. If the Mews are defeated, then who will stand in our way?" Gateau asked.

"You'll have to get rid of the Mew Aqua first," Kish spoke up. "Unless you want them to use it to stop us."

"I know that," Gateau replied. "What do you take me for? Now," He turned to Pie and Tart. "Let's start amassing Para Paras. We'll need a lot of them."

* * *

Ichigo giggled and rolled over on the bed. She was the only one in the room that she was sharing with Pudding and Ringo.

She was alone because all the other girls were currently down at the outdoor pool.

She was also on the phone with her boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama.

"No, we're having a great time. I mailed you a gift. Look for it at you house soon." She told him.

"_That's great."_ Masaya replied. _"Are you going to tell me what it is?"_

Ichigo shook her head, even though Masaya couldn't see. "Nope. You'll have to wait until it gets to your house to find out what it is.

He laughed. _"I'll look forward to it. I walked by the café today. It looks empty, but not like anyone's broken into it. Akasaka-san and Shirogane-san live above the café, don't they?"_

"Yep."

"_Anything else interesting happen over there?"_

"Well…" Ichigo hesitated. Masaya knew that she was a Mew, but still, she didn't want to worry him.

"_The aliens followed you, didn't they?"_

"Yes," Ichigo said sheepishly. "But so far we've been able to handle it."

"_Be careful, Ichigo,"_ Masaya told her.

"I will. Don't worry, the other girls are helping too."

"_Alright. I'll talk to you later."_

"Bye, Masaya."

Ichigo closed her cell phone and looked out the window. If only they could have a nice, normal vacation. But nothing had ever been normal since she became a Mew.

Then she got up and went to get her swimsuit. If the aliens weren't going to attack for awhile, then she could at least join her friends in the pool.

* * *

Well, maybe their vacation wasn't completely washed out yet, Zakuro mused as she lay out on a beach chair by the pool, a long pink cover-up and white shirt, along with a sun hat and sunglasses, protecting her from the actual rays of the sun.

Why Ryou actually thought that Tokyo Mew Mew could go on vacation and not have some calamity follow them was beyond her, but it also wasn't her job to worry about it. At least they could enjoy the pool.

Lettuce was in the deep end of the pool, trying to reach the actual bottom while holding her breath. She said that the chlorine in the water irritated her lungs when she tried to breathe underwater in a pool. Zakuro didn't know about that, but then again, Zakuro admitted, she wasn't a mermaid either.

Berry, Ringo, and Pudding were playing down in the shallow end of the pool. Mint was sitting on a beach chair a few feet down from Zakuro. The lorikeet girl was sitting under an overhanging tree branch so that from the waist down, she was in the sun, and from the waist up, she was in shade.

All the better to read her new magazine without the sun shining directly onto the page.

The door that led back into the hotel opened and Ichigo came running out, dropping her towel by the side of the pool as she did.

"Cannonball!" Ichigo shrieked as she jumped into the deep end of the pool, nearly landing on Lettuce's head.

When the catgirl got back up to the surface of the water, Zakuro told her, "Ichigo, you shouldn't run by the edge of the pool. You might get hurt."

"Okay," Ichigo agreed. "But if we do get hurt, we can just have Ringo help us."

"Still, don't run."

"Okay." Ichigo said, then turned to Lettuce. "So, you wanna play a game?"

"What kind of game?" Lettuce asked.

"I dunno…let's make something up!"

"Hey, can we play too?" Berry asked.

"Sure. Help us make up a game." Ichigo replied.

Zakuro leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes behind her glasses as the other girls talked about what kind of game they could play.

For now, the wolf-girl would go back to her nap.

* * *

When Keiichiro returned to the room he was sharing with Ryou, he was rather surprised to see the blonde sitting on the edge of one of the beds, a TV remote in his hand.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you watch TV," Keiichiro said cautiously, not sure whether what he said would make the blonde drop the remote and say he had to get back to work.

"Well, I don't have any work to do," Keiichiro could hardly believe his ears. "And it is supposed to be a vacation, so until we get a phone call from that detective, I figured I might as well relax."

"It's good that you're finally giving yourself a break." Keiichiro said as he set the sodas he'd purchased from the vending machine down on the nightstand.

"Uh-huh," Ryou replied, somewhat absent-mindedly. "Except I haven't found anything to watch." He clicked through a few more channels. "I can't find anything that I used to watch when I was younger."

"Chances are, most of that stuff your mother didn't want you watching when you were younger," Keiichiro told him.

Ryou didn't reply, he just kept moving through the channels.

Keiichiro picked up one of the sodas. "The girls are out at the pool; I thought I'd join them."

"Okay. I'm gonna stay here." Ryou said.

"Alright," The other man replied as he headed towards the door. It would be nice if Ryou took some time to relax for a change.

* * *

"Aah! Stupid goat!" Even from the very back of the store, Count D was still able to hear Leon's shout. The Asian man repressed a grin and headed back out to the front room.

Sure enough, Leon had T-chan by the horns and was holding the tetsu back. For his part, T-chan was still snapping his teeth at Leon.

"Alright, T-chan, that's enough," D told the tetsu.

"But I'm hungry!" T-chan stopped snapping at Leon long enough to protest. "And I haven't had human for awhile and it would taste so good."

"T-chan," D repeated, and with an exasperated huff the tetsu pulled free from Leon' grip and jumped down off the couch, wandering to the back of the store.

"Dumb goat." Leon muttered as he watched the creature lumber off. "Why do you even keep that thing around here, D?"

"He's a very rare creature, you know." D replied. "And he makes for very good security."

"Whatever." Leon leaned back in his chair.

"It's nice that I've been able to open the store for a change." D said as he went to put his 'closed' sign out on the door.

"What with all of the havoc these aliens have been causing recently, I haven't been able to have the shop open for very much of the day." D continued as he came back.

"Yeah. Well at least the aliens haven't done anything so far today," Leon said, glancing at his watch. "At this rate, this may be the first day since Tokyo Mew Mew's arrival that there hasn't been some kind of alien attack."

Count D glanced at the clock in his store. "It's almost time for tea." He said as he turned and vanished into the kitchen.

As they were having tea a few minutes later, D mentioned, "You seem to have accepted the fact that Tokyo Mew Mew really does exist."

"It was hard not too after the second time I saw them fight. But I still think it's weird. Especially their transformations. One little flash of light and they're dressed, just like that. No woman gets dressed _that_ fast."

"One little flash…" The Count repeated, thinking of the numerous ballet steps that Mint did to transform, and the steps that the rest of the girls did to transform.

"Weird. You gotta wonder how someone gets that kind of power." Leon said, then took another slurp of his tea. "But as long as they're not using it for evil, it's no concern of mine."

"Indeed."

* * *

Gateau de Roi knelt in the room, and waited as it was filled with blue tinge, announcing his master's arrival.

"Master Deep Blue, we are almost ready. I feel that this plan will be foolproof this time." Gateau said.

"It seems to me I've heard this before." Deep Blue replied.

"I'm sure that this time it will work, Master," Gateau said confidently. "Whenever we have attacked before, we always used small groups of Chimera Animas, not large ones. If we release a large hoard of Para Paras into this pet shop, we should have more than enough Chimera Animas to take down Tokyo Mew Mew and the rest of the world as well."

"For your sake, Gateau, I certainly hope so. I grow weary of waiting."

"I know, Master. We are working as hard as we can." The green-haired alien paused, waiting for a reply, but when he looked up the blue tinge was receding, Deep Blue having left.

The alien frowned contemplatively, then turned and walked away.

Just outside the room, Pie was working at his computer.

"Pie, how close are you to having collected all of the Para Paras we will need?" Gateau asked.

"We're nearly forty percent of the way there." Pie told him.

"Well, speed it up," Gateau replied. "I want to be able to attack tomorrow morning."

"Very well."

* * *

How long had it been since he'd relaxed like this? Ryou couldn't really remember.

Even more astonishing was the fact that he had already wasted two hours doing nothing besides watching TV, and it felt good. He grinned. He would have to make sure this didn't become a habit.

Ryou rolled over onto his side and glanced at his cell phone, which was sitting on the nightstand and had not rang all day. It was really very unusual.

Almost like the aliens had decided to take a day off, too.

Which was very strange.

But for now, Ryou decided, maybe he'd better enjoy it. He shut the TV off and left to go see what the others were doing. Then another thought occurred to him, and he stopped and went back to his computer.

* * *

_Gateau is so confident that he can win…I wonder if he realizes how good those girls really are at fighting._ Kish mused as he sat on top of a skyscraper, overlooking Los Angeles.

_Stupid humans. You've taken a beautiful planet and ruined it. But we'll have our revenge. Just wait_ _and see._

And then the air around him shimmered and rippled, and he vanished.

* * *

Tokyo Mew Mew was still out by the pool when Ryou arrived. On his way out, a thought had occurred to him, and he had an idea for everyone.

"So, are you all about done here?" He asked.

Everyone looked at him. "Well, actually I was getting kind of tired," Mint admitted.

"We can go back in." Berry said. "What's going on, Shirogane?"

"I was thinking about an early dinner." He told them. "So I went ahead and made some reservations. Did you all bring nice clothes?" He asked, giving Ichigo a suspicious glance.

"Wha-! Of course I did!" She spluttered.

"Good. You should all go get ready to eat." He said as he turned away from the annoyed catgirl. "I found really great reviews for this restaurant and we've got guests to pick up before we get there. Be sure and dress nicely."

"That Ryou is really something else." Ichigo muttered thiry minutes later as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, putting her hair back into it's pigtails. "First he says he's taking us all out to eat, then he gets after me for not having clothes. Of course I have clothes. These are the same clothes I used at the party on his cruise ship."

"Ryou onii-chan does do lots of nice things for us, though." Ringo added, doing a little twirl in her sari-like dress. Her red ribbon was till in it's place on her head. "We must be going out to a very nice restaurant to be dressed up like this."

"Pudding agrees!" The monkey girl added, almost tripping on the long sash of her cream-colored, lacy dress.

Ichigo reached for her black, lace-cuffed gloves and slid them on. "Is everybody ready? Let's see if we can beat Ryou and the others down to the lobby."

**XXX**

Lettuce had also used the dress from the party on Ryou's cruise ship. And with her hair out of it's braids and pulled back by a barrette, she felt elegantly grown up. Berry was wearing a pretty pink-and-white dress with a pink headband in her hair, and Mint was wearing a dark blue dress with a long slit up one side. Her accents were shoulder-length white gloves, and she had left most of her hair down, twisting some of it into tiny odango buns.

There was a knock on the door, and Lettuce grabbed her purse and went to answer it. Keiichiro was standing on the other side, wearing black pants with a matching dinner jacket and white shirt. "Are you ladies all ready?" he asked.

"We are," Mint told him as she swept towards the door, pausing to shove the room key into her own tiny purse. Berry followed Mint and Lettuce out the door.

"Ichigo and the others are waiting in the lobby, and Ryou expects the car here to pick us any minute." He said as he offered Lettuce his arm. The other girls followed as he led the way down to the lobby.

Just as Keiichiro had said, the other three girls were waiting, along with Ryou who was wearing his white suit. Zakuro showed up a moment after they did, wearing a red dress and apologizing for being late.

"You're not very late, Zakuro," Ryou told her. "We only just got here. The car's not even here yet."

As if to belie his words, a uniformed driver came into the building a moment later. "I'm looking for a Mr. Ryou Shirogane and his party."

"That would be us." Ryou said as he walked over to the driver. "We're going to need to make a stop before we head to the restaurant. I have the address here."

Outside, Ichigo came to a dead stop as she realized what kind of car Ryou had rented: a black stretch limo.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered.

"I'm not," Ryou replied as he came to a stop behind her. The chauffer went forward an opened the door for the group, and they all climbed into the limo.

"Ryou, this is really impressive." Mint said as she took a seat. Keiichiro climbed in behind her, and the chauffer shut the door.

"I thought it might be nice to eat somewhere fancy at least once while we're in L.A." He replied.

"So where are we going?" Berry asked.

"I made reservations a restaurant called Spark Woodfire Grill." Ryou told her. "But we're going to make a quick detour by Chinatown before we go eat."

* * *

Count D had been more than a little surprised when his phone rang at four o'clock that afternoon. After all, the pets he'd sold that morning wouldn't all turn out to be malicious, and even for the two that were, it was a little early for anything to start happening.

So he was somewhat surprised to answer the phone and hear Ryou Shirogane on the other end, especially because he hadn't given Ryou the number for the store.

Then again, he realized, it wasn't much of a reach that Ryou Shirogane could find it.

"What was that all about?" Leon asked after the Count had hung up the phone.

"That was Shirogane. He has invited us to dinner tonight." D replied as he turned to face the detective. "He also said that we would need to dress somewhat formally."

"Formally? I don't know if I have time to go home and get something formal." Leon said as he took his feet down off D's table and sat up in his chair.

"It's nice of you to stop using my table as a footrest, Mr. Detective," D said. "And I have something you could borrow, if you'd like."

"It's not one of your dresses, is it?"

"As a matter of fact, it is not. Wait here, I'll get it for you." D vanished into the back of the petshop, and returned a few moments later with a box. "This was my grandfather's, but I'm sure he won't mind if you borrow it for the evening."

Leon opened the box. "A suit? Hey wait a minute," He glanced at the mantle.

D noticed. "Yes, it's the same one my grandfather is wearing in that picture."

"And you still have it because…?"

"I'm just running the shop until my grandfather comes back."

"Uh-huh." Leon looked back down at the suit. "Well it won't hurt to try it on, anyway." _I would hate to be underdressed._

"Follow me; I'll show you were you can change," D said as he turned away. Leon stood and followed him into the back of the shop.

After dropping Leon off in Chris's room, D went to his own room and went through his own closet, looking for something to wear.

Much to Leon's surprise, the suit fit him fairly well, although there was no way he would ever be able to button the coat.

"You look nice, Leon," Pon-chan, who had been sitting on the bed, told him.

"Thanks, Pon-chan. I think this will do just fine." Leon replied. "I wonder if D is ready yet." He headed back out the door, Pon-chan on his heels.

In the front room, he found D already sitting in a chair, waiting for him. Q-chan was perched on his shoulder and squeaked as Leon entered the room.

"So, how did it fit?" D asked.

"Pretty good, actually." Leon said. "Though I am more prone to white for my suits, and… D, what on Earth are you wearing?"

The count's outfit was a long, floor length robe, with long sleeves and shoulder spikes, much to Leon's surprise. Three long strands of jade beads draped down around the side of his robe, matching the two long strands around the Count's neck. The front piece of his outfit was done in patterned black, which offset the color of the rest of his outfit. At his side, connecting the three strands of beads, was a small pouch.

"Sheesh, D, don't you think you're a little overdressed?" Leon asked. "What is that, another family heirloom?"

"As a matter of fact, it belonged to my grandfather's grandfather." D replied. "Hmmm…do you really think I'm overdressed?"

There was no time to answer, because at that moment there came a knock on the door. Leon opened it.

The chauffer was standing there. "I'm looking for a Count D and a Detective Orcot."

"Well you found 'em," Leon said as the Count came up behind him.

"I was asked to give this to the Count," The man continued, holding out a folded sheet of paper and Masha, who was asleep.

D accepted the robot and the paper. He unfolded the paper and read the note.

_Count D,_

_Please leave Masha in your shop while we're gone. If a Chimera Anima shows up, he can send a signal immediately to alert us._

_Shirogane_

The Count set Masha down on an end table along with the note, and turned to Leon and the chauffer. "I believe we're ready."

"I will escort you to the car," The chauffer said. He turned and headed back up to the street, Leon behind him. D followed after he had stopped to lock the door. Outside they found a limo waiting, much to Leon's surprise.

"Count D! Detective Orcot!" Berry exclaimed as the two of them got in.

"Kyu!"

"Q-chan too." She added as she spotted the creature.

"Wow, Shirogane, do you think you've done things extravagantly enough?" Leon asked as he took a seat. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but this is gonna have to cost a fortune."

"Good thing I have a fortune." Ryou replied.

Count D, a far greater diplomat than the Detective, told the Japanese man, "Thank you for inviting us."

"Don't mention it," Ryou waved the words away. "I just thought it would nice to have a relaxing dinner while the aliens weren't attacking."

"You'll all have to come over for tea tomorrow afternoon." D told the group.

Mint smiled. "We'll be glad to," She accepted on behalf of the group.

Ryou checked his phone. "Masha will alert us if anything happens at the pet shop while we're gone."

"I read the note." D affirmed.

"Then tonight I suggest we enjoy ourselves." Keiichiro said.

* * *

**T.A.R.N.S.:** Alright. I hope no one was bored, but before things start to really pick up in the next chapter, I wanted a break. And this chapter, like the others was supposed to go on for eleven pages, but I got stuck on page seven, and by the time I got it moving again, it was fourteen pages. But that's alright.

I apologize for the delay, but real life comes first. Hopefully, I can get this story finished this summer since I started it last summer. That would be nice. The idea is that I can have a bit of time off this summer, since I only have half the classes I normally take in the average college semester.

Some real life facts here. The Farmer's Daughter hotel is apparently a real hotel somewhere in L.A. I don't know if they have a pool. The site I was on wanted to me to book a room, so I got off there as soon as I could. And the Spark Woodfire Grill is a real L.A. restaurant, but I upped their dress code because I wanted to do something dressy. And yes, the outfit I described for D comes from "Dynasty." I loved that outfit from the moment I saw it. And I only just now realized how close I came to putting Leon in a Chinese robe. Just that close!

Anyway, please Review! Since I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, I would really like to get at least two reviews before I update again. that's not too much to ask, is it? Please?


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